Tears
by RayShippouUchiha
Summary: Kagome and Shippou have undergone many trials and things are not how they used to be. Perhaps they never will be again. When fate deals you a horrible hand do you fold or simply play the next game through? AU. On Hold for rewritting
1. Default Chapter

AN: I know that I have been promising an update to this fic for a while now and I am sorry for not updating soon enough. The problem is that I had some major thoughts about where this story was going so I decided that I would revise and revamp the whole thing. The revisions will be major so do not skip over them if you have already read the first couple of chapters. There will be major plot changes so please reread what has been rewritten. If you do not like the new changes please feel free to inform me and I will see what can be done. I decided that my writing in the first couple of chapters was not satisfactory so I am going to rewrite and spice up all of them. I plan to fix some of the out-of-characterness that appears ever so often and some common mistakes on how things happen in each world. I do however have great news. I have over half of chapter seven done as of now so a fresh never before seen chapter should be coming soon. Arigatou for not giving up on me.

Disclaimer: If only...if only...

Teardrop One

Shippou.

He was her reason for living. If it wasn't for that kit, Kagome would have more than likely ended her own existence long ago. To die would be such sweet relief for her. No more pain, no more suffering, no more cries of torment from the tortured souls around her. Only he held her back from raising the razor to her thirsty wrist. She ached for the touch of the blade to her flesh, for the false hope that she could somehow cut away her sins and short comings. But no she could not send her son into the world alone to fend for himself. No matter how grown up he acted sometimes he was still just a kit, her kit, and she would not let him go just yet. He had suffered the agony of being orphaned once and she would do anything to spare him that pain a second time.

What lingering thoughts she had about her own death had left quickly when there was no longer anyone around who would protect her kit should she die. They were all each other had now, there was no longer any one left that could help them or support them. No one left to watch over her kit as he grew into the youkai she knew he would become. The others had been cut down, dieing with honor in battle. The lives of her traveling companions had each been snuffed out cruely before their time, their flames extinguished forever. The thousands of youkai and the blood-thirsty hanyou had seen to that, along with the aid of the miko who was supposed to have been so pure. So many had died that day and yet in the end had it really been worth it? All of the blood and wasted lives over a jewel that was nothing but a curse. Because of that cursed stone she had watched as those she loved were cut down around her.

FLASHBACK 

Kagome battled uselessly against the tide of youkai that kept her seperated from her companions, for every one she cut down four rose to take its place, she was forced to watch as all she had known for the past four years was taken from her in but an instance.

Kirara fell first.

The fierce neko-mononoke charged towards Naraku's form intent on distracting the vermin from her mistress as she fought along side the houshi. The hi-neko lept on lower class youkai, ripping and slashing them with her claws and fangs as rage overtook her form hazing her mind in a mist of red. Her battle style while feral and wild, was beautiful and effective, apparently too effective. Seemingly out of nowhere Naraku threw his tenticles out towards her. As hard as she tried she could not avoid them all due to the closeness of the lesser youkai that swarmed around her. A single misstep was all it took to end it. Kirara took a blast of tenticles head on. They sliced through her unrelentingly, piercing every organ and even then she fought on. It was not until a single cleverly manipulated appendage struck that it ended.

Sango screamed in anguish at seeing the head of her last family member fly through the air and land somewhere near her feet. She attacked, blinded by her tears of rage and pain as she swung her Hiraikotsu, killing youkai with every move of the flying bone. In her rage Sango failed to notice the tenticles that was aimed straight for her chest until it was too late. As the tenticle pierced through her skin and ripped open her chest cavity headed for her heart Sango saw her life flash before her eyes. She saw her now dead family, her otouto Kohaku who she had been unable to save from death. She saw Kagome her imouto and Shippou who grew to be so much like Kohaku. Then she saw InuYasha and finally she the one person who had grown to mean more to her than life itself. She saw... Miroku, her beautiful, perverted houshi Miroku. The only man who had ever really saw her.

Turning her head to look on his beloved face once more she tried to whisper to him what she had never been able to tell him before...that she loved him.

"Miroku...love..." It was never finished; the gurgle of blood blocked what she had been trying to say with her final moments.

Miroku screamed out his pain, "Sango no!" Unleashing his kazaana Miroku ripped the body of the only woman he would ever love off of the tenticles that impaled her. Closing his curse off as she came sailing towards him Miroku cradled the limp and blood soaked form to his chest. Softly he kissed her lips and stroked her hair.

"Sango my love, I never got the chance to let you know that I really loved you. But don't worry I'll see you soon, very soon."

Turning to Kagome Miroku shouted out to his imouto, "Kagome, I am sorry for what I must do. I'm sorry that you never found the love that you so rightfully deserve, and that InuYasha betrayed you so many times. But I am most sorry that I have to leave you alone right now for I cannot live with out Sango by my side."

Turning to Shippou Miroku stated calmly, "Shippou I have one last request. I want you to look after Kagome-sama for all of us. She will need a strong man like you in the future."

Grasping the prayer beads that contained his kazaana Miroku turned one last time to Kagome,"Please judge us fairly imouto." With this Miroku, flinging the prayer beads far from him, unleashed his curse one last time and pulled hundreds of youkai into the void. At first it seemed as if nothing would happen until the winds grew ever stronger and the ground beneath his feet began to quake. The red hot flames of pain unlike anything he had ever experienced flowed through his hand and continued throughout his body. He could feel the tunnel growing larger with every youkai and youkai puppet it consumed. And then in an explosion that rocked the surrounding areas Miroku and Sango were gone. They would be together forever inside the black void that had killed the houshi just as it had killed his father and his grandfather. All that was left was the crater; he had succeded in his life long dream to end the curse, only there would be no future generations to enjoy life without it.

"Judge you fairly," Kagome whispered,"how could I do anything but that?"

Kagome vaugly recalled how three hours before the entire Inugumi learned of her secret job and abilities, something that she had never desired them to find out about.

FLASHBACK IN FLASHBACK

The hunter caravan roamed through the deep woods once again on the trail of Naraku. Kagome was walking calmly behind the others, observing them as they traveled. Shippou was as always, arranged cheerfully on Kagomes' shoulder, while Kirara rested on Sangos'. Miroku walked quietly beside Sango with a dreamy smile on his face as if he was daydreaming of some pleasant memory, and knowing him as they did they had no doubt that it was probably a perverted one as well.

At the front of the group walked InuYasha, his pace slower than it normally ever would be as his hand rest on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga, ready for an attack. He was always more catious now that he had Kikyous' saftey to be concerned with. The hanyou had invited the undead miko to join their group almost one week before on the context that Kagome's spiritual powers could not come anywhere close to Kikyou's. The taijya and houshi had directed many disapproving glares and protests in his direction and had tried to caution the head strong hanyou that his lover could and would betray him given the slightest opportunity. But alas the stubborn hanyou would hear of no slander on the name of the miko.

Seemingly as a result of InuYasha's numerouse betrayals Kagome had over time lost the joy and happiness that radiated from her form before. While she had dealt with him for a long time there was only so much a person could take before they broke. When that time had come for her she had not only broke, she had shattered. It was as if something had sucked the emotions from her slowly over time until she reminded the group of Sesshoumaru, only colder at times. It felt wrong for them to see the once happy, life loving onna so cold and seemingly bitter but it was too little too late, the damage had already been done.

The saying goes that time changes all things and it was no different where Kagome was concerned. The young miko had finally stopped wearing her school uniform, choosing to let go of her childish fantasy of returning to her regular life. She had finally accepted that for her there was no going back, that no matter what she did there would never be a normal life for her again. Her new clothes which she had made herself were styled after the traditional miko clothes that Kaede wore but with a few adjustments. Instead of the normal red and white colors Kagome chose to wear black and white. While these were the normal colors of the kuromiko, Kagome chose to wear them to represent the light and darkness with every heart. In truth she felt as if she did not deserve to wear the clothes of a true miko, the type which Kaede wore. The major change however was not in what type of clothes she wore but in the type of weapon that she now chose to carry. Kagome now carried a katana.

Now this katana was no ordinary katana at all. The blade was long and slender with a delicate design that curved towards the end like a scythe. Upon the body of the blade was the inscription of a cerulean dragon done in perfect detail from the tip of its tail to the flare of its nostrils. The dragons body curved from one end of the sword to the other, up to were its head formed the hilt. The face of the dragon was quite captivating on its own. With jaws agape and fangs bared, the dragons face possessed a cocky, slightly arrogant cast. While the face was captivating the eyes were more so.

Pink and glowing they contrasted sharply with the delicate cerulean hue of its body. The glowing orbs seemed to shift and scan the surrounding areas and its occupants, daring anyone to step out of line. If anyone so much as dared come within three feet of Kagome the eyes of the sword would glow and people could swear that there was a series of low growls floating on the air. The sword itself was surrounded with an aura of immense and potentially deadly power.

The blades less obvious use was as a warning system to Kagome. When in the presence of a ningen, youkai, or any other being that wished to do harm to Kagome the eyes of the dragon would glow a deep crimson red in warning. When in the prescence of one who ment no harm the eyes would glow a soft rose hue in comfort.

Kagome had recived this blade at the ending of her year and a half training sessions with the imprisoned miko Midoriko, which took place in her dreams. After a year and a half Midoriko and informed Kagome that she was now beyond her ability to teach. Within her training sessions with Midoriko and some others that she had meet along the way Kagome had managed to master a wide variety of skills. She was now proficient in swordsmanship, hand-to-hand and concealed weapons fighting, a powerful teleknetic and telepath, also thanks to her own intense study sessions at the suggestion of others she was a posion and healing herbs master, and had finally gained complete control over her miko powers.

Although Midoriko had complete faith in Kagomes abilities she was most surprised when Kagome developed a highly unusual trait in even the most powerful of mikos. The young woman had suprisingly developed the ability to control two opposing elements, and work with them in complete harmony.

Kagome had developed the ability to control the elements of fire and ice.

These were two of the most volitile elements, and on the few occasions a being had been granted the ability to wield two elements together it was never these two. If the wielder of two elements was unable to completely control their said gifts the battle within themselves would be unbareable.

If balance was not completely maintained between the two waring elements at all time the results were deadly. The weilders soul would continualy try to expel the two elements from the wielders body, which would cause the weilders soul itself to be ripped out of its resting place. This would result in the wielders body being ripped apart form the inside out.

Many had tried and failed to control the two elements that Kagome wielded so effortlessly.

The katana had not been gifted with a name when Kagome recieved it, but that siuation was quickly corrected. Kagome deceided to name the sword Midoriko, after the miko who was the cause and solution to all Kagomes problems. So now the great Midoriko had returned to once again slay and destroy the youkai that had caused her imprisonment. And with Kagomes help she would succeed.

Now as the group continued to walk through the forest Kagome began to get the feeling that all was not right. She felt as if there was something coming for her and her group. She was right. As she open her senses and scanned the area Kagome deteced the auras of two familiar youkai closing in on them rapidly. Raising her head and scenting the air she found that to her dismay her aura scan had been correct, they were going to have company very shortly.

Sighing deeply Kagome turned to her friends, "Sango, Miroku there are two youkai approching quickly, and I would ask that you follow my instructions closely since I know who they are. Now I want you Sango, Miroku, and Kirara to handle..."

"Oi. Bitch no one gives orders in my pack except for me. I'm the alpha male and you all will follow my lead. I decide who fights who and when. You don't have a say in anything your only a cheap copy of Kikyou..." that was as far as InuYasha got.

Quicker than lightning Kagome had drawn Midoriko and had her blade pressed against the inu hanyous throat. "Listen to me you sorry excuse for a bitch dog," Kagome snarled her eyes flashing form red to black to blue,"this is not your pack any longer. You are not the alpha male. Alpha describes the one with the most power, and that is most definatly not you! And since I am the alpha female and Shippou is my son, I declared him as alpha male. You will never again claim his position of power. Is that clear?", Kagome barked. "I said is that clear? Answer me if you wish to maintain possesion of you head."

"Yesss!"

"Yes who you filthy hanyou?"

"Yes leader."

"So your not as stupid as you look." At these words InuYasha blindly lunged at Kagome claws extended. Quick as the breeze she brought the hilt of Midoriko crashing down on his head, rendering him unconscious immediatly.

"Now as I was saying before I was so rudley interupted, Sango, Miroku, and Kirara if you three will be so kind as to handle the wicked kaze bitch Kagura, me and Shippou shall handle the child."

The three nodded to show that they understood and quickly turned to assume battle positions.

'Let them come' was the only thought in her mind as Kagome turned with Shippou to face the treat that was Kanna of the void.

"Shippou," Kagome called, "come and perch on my shoulder. I want you to cast your kitsunebi around yourself and levitate like I taught you okay."

"Yes Kaasan." Shippou happily replied.

"This will not take long my son, then we shall go and play for a little while."

Never removing her eyes from the threat that was Kann's soul mirror Kagome unseathed Midoriko and waited patiently for the "child" to attack. The move came soon enough as Kagome felt a pulling in her soul. The pull was to let go and be free, free from pain and grief, free from the constant betrayal that was InuYasha, free from it all. But as tempting as the offer was Kagome refused to die at the hands of Narakus incarnation, and give him the use of her soul and control over her powers.

Gripping Midoriko tightly Kagome raised her hand and shot out a stream of purifying energy at Kanna in place of the soul the girl had been sent to take. The mirror quickly began to shake and vibrate then began to splinter rapidly. Kanna had unknowingly absorbed Kagomes miko ki. The child showed no emotion, no pain, no hatred, no nothing as she was slowly purified from the inside out, leaving only faint remains of her body on the forest floor.

Her task for the moment completed, Kagome turned to face the spot were Sango, Miroku, and Kirara battled Kagura the kaze sorcceress. The trio was not having an easy time. Miroku could not unleash his kaazana due to the swarms of Saimyousho that had accompined Kagura; Kirara was busy killing any youkai or insect that came at Sango or the houshi from behind, and Sango was valiantly attempting to ward off Kaguras kaze blades.

Stepping forward Kagome once again raised Midoriko and sent out a blast of purifing energy at Kagura who was unprepared for the seemingly weak and useless ningen to attack her. Under estimating Kagome was her final mistake. The remaining half of Kaguras body fell to the ground along with the bodies of Narakus poison insects.

With a single fluid motion she sheathed her blade and advancing, Kagome extended her hands to rest above the lifeless remains of Kanna and Kagura. Turning her face towards her friends she told them in a calm voice, "There are things about me that none of you, excluding Shippou, know. I am about to show you my true form and I do not want you to be alarmed, so I ask that you not attack anything that you are about to see. Please Shippou go and stand wiith them and keep them calm."

At her words the kitsune jumped from her shoulder and went to stand between the houshi and taijya. "Mother I love your real form, you're so beautiful! Just wait Miroku you're gonna love it!"

Turning her attention towards the two bodies once again Kagome carefully extened her aura outwards until it engulfed the entire area. The power of her spirit washed over each and every person in the clearing. It made Shippou feel the love of his Mother wrap around him and engulf him, Sango felt the love her imouto held for her like she had not felt it in years. Miroku felt the worries that he held over the spreading of his kaazana lift from his shoulders as if taken away from him. Kirrara purred in contentment feeling warm hands run down her spin and caress her fur. InuYasha whimpered on the ground feeling sorrow like he had never felt before as his world was wrapped in black with slashes of red blood. The sheer amount of power rose the hairs on the arms of Kikyou as she seethed in jealousy over the amount of power her reincarnation possessed and plotted to have it for herself soon enough.

As the power levels rose higher and higher those in the clearing took notice of the steady glow that grew brighter and brighter and seemed to be coming from the ground near the two corpses of the fallen youkai. Soon to the suprise of all two crimson balls of light rose from the bodies of Kanna and Kagura and floated to Kagome. As the young miko lifted her hands towards the sky there was a flash of blinding light that engulfed her entire body. When it faded the houshi and taijya stood amazed.

Before them stood the unharmed figures of both Kanna and Kagura. The two youkai look exactly the same as they had before the fight except for the fact that they were slightly transparant. With them stood another that no one but Shippou recognized.

Although she was fairly normal in stature the figure had a certain quiet strength that seemed to shine through to the outside and radiated around her body. And yet there was still something fragile about her, as if she was stong and yet brittle in a sense. With a willowy body the figure wore the miko clothing regally with silver and cerulean dragons intertwined around the legs of her hakama and traveling up to rest across the front of her haori. Her face was delicate, yet strong with a thread of steel that showed she would not be broken. Her eyes were large and completely black with no white showing at all and gave her a distinctly disturbing gaze. Beside each eye was a small tattoo. On the right side was the tattoo of a small flame and on the left that of a small snowflake. On her forehead was a pink pentagram which held in its middle a small ying-yang of ice blue and flame red, showing to balance this creature represented between two waring elements.

Her knee length hair was soft and silky and shined in the moonlight. It was straight with a small wave and black as night. There were two pink streaks that went from the top of her head all the way down framing her face before ending at her knees.

When the figure shifted slightly the houshi and taijya focused on a glint of steel at her waist and instantly recognized Midoriko, the mysterious blade that never left Kagome's side.

"Kagome?" the stunned houshi and taijya questioned.

"Yep thats my Mother alright. Isn't she beautiful Miroku?" Shippou whispered.

"Stunning." replied the shocked houshi.

Kagome inwardly smirked at their astonishment, but her emotions never showed on her face. Turning to face Kanna and Kagura she began to perform her task.

"Kanna of the void and Kagura the kaze witch, you have been found guilty by the Reikai counsil of the crimes of killing innocents, stealing souls, and many more dasterdly deeds that will go unmentioned but not unnoticed." Kagome's voice was as hard as granite and just as cold. "Thus your judgement has been placed in my hands. Since many of your crimes have been commited against me and the ones I call family it is only right that I have say in your judgement."

"Kanna, Kagura," Kagome's voice noticably softened, "I know that many of your actions were not of your own choice, since Naraku holds your heart. With that in mind I hearby sentence you both to rest forever in eternal peace. One day if fate sees fit you may have another chance at life. But know this, if you are ever given that chance, I will be there watching you and if you miss step even once I will personally drag you into the deepest pit of Hell there is and chain you there."

At this Kagome clapped her hands once again and the souls of the two former youkai turned back into identical balls of light, but this time they were a brilliant, blazing white, the color of purity. They had been forgiven by the very one they had wronged so many times before. As the soul floated away into the heavens there could be heard on the wind the soft sound of a childs voice, "Arigatou Mistress Kagome, if you are ever in need of my mirror you know were to find me."

"Arigatou Kanna," Kagome quietly laughed, "I will keep your request in mind."

Turning back to her friends Kagome once again resumed her normal appearance. Stooping to pick up her son she turned to the others with one of her increasingly rare smiles. "Lets continus shall we?"

END FLASHBACK IN FLASHBACK

Turnig to face the crater that was now all that remained of the man she had thought she loved Kagome recalled how every word the group had told InuYasha in warnig about Kikyou had come true just seconds ago.

Naraku had aimed a deadly tenticale straight at Kikyou as she supposedly stood frozen in shock. InuYasha spotting the "attack" on his preciouse clay pot broke into a sprint to reach her before Naraku. Kagome somehow sensing that all was not right turned at that moment and took in the sitiuation. She was over come with a feeling of wrongness, that something was not right with Narakus attack. Wathcing she realized that it was all happening too slow. She remembered the quickness with which the hanyou had slayed her comrades and knew that InuYasha was running into a trap. She was right. Before she could utter a word she was forced to watch as InuYasha was struck down and slowly dragged into hell by the miko that had always betrayed him.

All that Kagome could register was that her and Shippou were now truly alone. It was just them, they were all that remained of their once strong team. As this ran through her head she turned to face her greatest enemy the way she felt she was doomed to always remain...alone.

END FLASHBACK

'Shippou where is he?' That was the only thought on Kagome's mind as she searched the ash and corpse littered battlefield for the shape of her son. Suddenly out of the corner of her eyes she saw a flash of red towards her right. Turnig she was confronted with the worse sight that a mother could face.

Naraku stood off to her right and in his grasp was the struggling form of her son.

"Naraku!" Kagome screamed as she saw that the evil hanyou had her beloved kitsune in his grasp.

Suddenly Kagome's aura flared and she began to glow. It pulsed with a dangerous mixture of flame red, ice blue, and pink. Kagome's eyes were uttely terrifiying, they glowed a deep crimson as the color bled into the whites giving her the appearance of a youkai in the midst of battle rage.

"Naraku," Kagome smirked with a dangerous smile, "in all the years of your pathetic and wasted life, you failed to learn one of the most vitail survival lessons of all..."

Drawing Midoriko Kagome stepped towards the hayou and slashed the tentecale that held Shippou, and watched dispassionately as it exploded into a flurry of ash after being instantly purified. Before the kumo had a chance to react she had scooped up the unconscious kit in her arms and jumped a ways away from him to place the child gently on the ground. Placing a barrier around him she slowly readjusted her grip on the hilt of the katana. "Never fuck with a mother, especially a miko mother. You will not live through the experience." Sword flashing Kagome turned on Naraku. "I am going to make you pay with your flesh for what you have done to me and mine."

She flew across the clearing towards him, blade drawn and eyes flashing with the pain of loss and the anger of one who suffered and yet blamed it on themselves. The first downward thrust of her katana was blocked easily with a swift shift of Naraku's tentecale. However it had not been a serious blow to begin with. She was simply testing her opponent, checking for flaws in his defense as she had been taught. She was testing his reaction times and how strong he was on a purely physical sense. Slowly she increased her speed and strength while withholding her miko powers. She did not want to give away all of her secrets or her main fighting tactics until she was sure she had seen what he held in his own. This strategy had been drilled into her through hours of training and sparring with the one who had saved her life. He had been invaluable to her and yet he had left, taking a part of her soul with him when he went.

Shaking her head she removed herself from her thoughts and focused once again on the task at hand. Naraku was apparently growing tired of her games for he had upped the skill level. Suddenly she found herself faced with not one but three Naraku's and she realized instantly that he was using his puppets in battle.

"What is the matter little miko? Do you miss you friends? Are you upset over the death of your precious hanyou? I am sure that he is happy at this moment. Afterall why stay with the copy when one can have the original?"

She was aware of what he was trying to do to her. He strove to bring back old memories and reopen scabbed over wounds. She would not allow him to use her own misery against her. The pain that she endured was hers. Her scars were not for him to toy with.

"It is a pity that you could not save the others, but not much of a suprise I suppose. You are much weaker than Kikyou ever was. She would have no doubt been able to save them. She would have _never _failed them the way that you did. We both know that."

That last bit was the final push that she needed to end her analysis of his tactics. It was time for him to die. She had no wish to hear more of his mind games, it normally meant that he was gearing up for the kill when he started trying to mind fuck you. This time she wanted to fuck with his mind. She wanted him to know that the incarnation of the woman he had coveted was the one that sent him to the darkest pit of hell, that she had disected him slowly for her viewing pleasure.

Finally ready to end the games she purified Midorkio's blade and set to work destroying the puppets. Every hit she took was returned on them six fold. And each instance her blade had even the smallest bit of contact with them, their limbs were purified to dust. Finally she stood facing the original alone. Covered in fresh blood, all of which was her own since puppets did not bleed, and bits of flesh from aforementioned foes she was tired, she was dirty, and most of all she was grieving inside. Her heart was heavy with the knowledge that because she was not strong enough her friends were dead and her kit was injured.

One hand clutching the gaping wound on her stomach and the other gripping the bloody hilt of her sword she powered up for her last assualt. It would be dangerous, more so than any attack she had tried so far but it was all she could do. She had tested him and she knew his capabilities. He would not fall for foolish tricks and he would not give her ample opportunity for a strike at the tama that lay within his heart. She needed to get close, very close. She needed to get captured.

He struck. An onslaught of tentecales came for her. She parried and she thrusted, destroying a few at a time, just enough to avoid suspicion on her motives. She slowed her movements in incriments so as to make it look as if she was simply weakening, until finally she appeared to be staggering around the battlefield. Finally she allowed her katana to fall from her hand as she was seized by the dreaded appendages of Naraku. She barely contained her smile as she was drawn in close to his body, close enough to feel his breath on her neck, close enough to hear his heartbeat with her enhanced senses. She maintained her emotionless facade as she had been taught, allowing only hints of her physical pain to shine through. She wanted him to believe her broken, defeated, so he would drop his guard even the smallest amount.

"You are such a beautiful little miko. Stunning really. So much like Kikyou, and yet so much warmer. Your fire is visible in _everything_ you do. I can not help but wonder if you burn so brightly in _any_ situation." He whispered seductively in her ear as she barely held back her tremor of revulsion. "You will make a fine mate for me, our children will be just as exquist as you my dear. Of course I will kill you first and shall we say _retrain_ you. Afterwards however I do believe I will take great pleasure in your body. Turning your soul dark will be my greatest achievement, even greater than killing Kikyou. But don't worry my dear, you will have company. I do believe Sesshoumaru-sama has a little girl who posesses a personality and a potential almost as unique as yours. I trust he will most displeased with the loss of his little mate, but I suspect he will live. Well actually he will not. You see our dear Western Taiyoukai is one of the last who stand a chance of opposing me on any scale. It will be most pleasurable to bathe you in his blood."

She looked up at him then and meet his eyes head on. The fire that blazed there startled him briefly before she titled forward to rest against his form, she was not supposed to look so in control of the situation. She was supposed to be helpless! She was not supposed to be so calm. She had lost, he had her. She was at _his _mercy, she was wrapped in _his_ clutches, pressed close to _his_ body! No wait she was pressed to him! She was more than close enought to strike out with her powers! He had to get her as far away from him as possible. He tensed as her aura slowly began to extend away from her body once again. The bitch had wanted this to happen all along. He reared back from her, intent on throwing her form away from him before she had the opportunity to strike out.

Her hands gripping the front of his haori stopped his movements. Her head slowly rose from where it had rested oh so limply against his chest. The smile that spread across her face as he watched chilled him to the bone. It was demented in a way that he would not have expected from her. He realized that he had done this to her. Even if it had been indirectly he had some part in the destruction of her spirit.

"You might have killed Kikyou but you will not touch Rin. She is an innocent, unlike us she has never taken a life. We have both taken more than our fair share. We have killed hundreds, but she is pure in a way that I could never again hope to obtain. I would never allow you to live long enough to touch her. Even if I did die I would still find a way to reach out from beyond the grave and crush you before you had the chance. Even if it cost me my soul you will never have her. You die here today for what you have done to this world and these people. For your transgressions you pay with your soul."

Her hands did not losen a single bit as her power rushed forwards along her arms and into her clenched fists. As pure flames danced across her skin and frost rushed in afterwards he could only watch in awe. Her powers were so strong they paralyzed him, rendering him unable to escape her grasp or the fatal results or her energy. Her hands slowly sunk into his chest, his flesh being eaten away by the flames and purity in her skin only to be frozen by the frost to keep him from trying to absorb her. When her hand wrapped around his heart, the bitch squeezed it slowly.

"How does it feel to know that your heart lays in the palm of another? How does it feel that it could be crushed at any moment? Know the agony that you inflected upon Kagura! Know what it is like to realize your life is in the hands of another."

"Do it miko if you can. I do not think you are strong enough to crush the heart of an enemy as you look them in the eye. Not even one such as myself. It would haunt you for the rest of your existance."

The pressure on his pumping organ lightened slowly and he smiled confident that he had won.

"You are correct Naraku. It _will _haunt me."

With that her fist clenched completely closed. His screams reverberated through the clearing as she ripped the tama from his body and with a blast of purifying energy was flung away from him to land in a heap on the forest floor.

"You bitch! Do not think that you have won! No matter what happens you will never escape me! I will be in your dreams Kagome, I will be in your dreams..."

The injured miko smiled faintly as she watched the last of Naraku's body be purified into ash and float away on the wind. Gripping her fist around the tama she wiped the blood off her hands onto the damp grass below her and purified even his blood, wanting to leave no trace of him of the earth. Looking down she could see the almost completed jewel slowly begining to lighten in color as it absorbed her powers and began to purify. All that was needed was the last shard that she possessed and it would be whole again in shape. However she knew that it would take many hours of intense prayer before the process would be complete.

Pushing herself onto her feet she stood swaying in the middle of the battlefield. Hair blowing across her face until only her eyes were visible she looked like some avenging tenshi. On unsteady feet she crossed over to the crumpled form of her kit and dropped heavily to her knees beside him. With a wave of her hand the barrier dropped and she turned him onto his back from where he had rolled onto his side. The wound on his side bleed sluggishly as if to slowly count the passage of time. His arm hung at an unnatural angle and his beautiful eyes were swollen closed. Careful not to wake him so he would feel no unnecessary pain, she slowly set his broken arm. When she was finished she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Healing youkai with her miko powers took a great deal out of her even when they were as connected to her as Shippou was. She had to forcefully hold her blood back from purifying the natural poisons or other youkai quailities that they held within their bodies. The pinkish glow jumped forth from her hands willingly, seeming to understand for once the urgency that came with healing this particular youkai. They could tell that the kit was special to her and they desired to protect whomever she deemed important.

She mentally pictured the shattered bones in the kit's body reconnecting and healing without any problems. Slowly she opened her eyes and watched her dream become reality. The arm healed perfectly until there was only faint scratches left that would be easily cared for by his powerful youkai healing. Next she envisioned the torn flesh of his stomach being resown and the brusied skin around his face going down and returning to its normal healthy peah color. It became reality. Wiping beads of sweat from her forehead she slowly removed her haori and wrapped it around the shivering form of her kit. Sending him into a deep healing sleep and ensuring that his dreams would be pleasant she stood. Clad now only in her hakama and the bandages that wrapped from her stomach up to above her breasts she prepared to set to work.

She had much to do and little time to do it in. She refused to leave what was left of her friends in such a unhonorable state. She made her way over to the torso of Kirara, which was in all honesty the only body that was left of her comrades. Gently extending her aura outwards she called upon the telekinetic powers that she barely used. She would not leave the fierce neko laying on the battle field in pieces but for some reason she could not bring herself to move her body with her own hands. Instead she used her mind, a task much more draining but still useful. The remains lifted into the air, the torso from before her and the head from somewhere to her right near the place that Sango had made her last stand. The pieces floated to a clear area on the battle field before coming to a rest gently on the ground.

Slowly approaching the fallen form Kagome made a snap decision. Kirara did not have to die completely, she could in a manner live on and help to protect someone that she had cared for and protected in life. Reverently sinking to her knees in front of the giant neko's head Kagome slowly reached her hands into the gaping mouth of the fallen warrior. She was careful since it was a well known fact that even if you cut off their heads a youkai still had the power to bite. When she was met with no resistance she wrapped her hands around the protruding top fangs and jerked. They snapped off and lay on her palms as if they had been made for that purpose.

Gaining her feet again Kagome assumed a prayer stance and began the ritualistic rites for the dead. She would see to it that Kirara had a peaceful place in the afterlife along with Miroku and Sango. InuYasha was beyond her power to save. Anyone who willingly desceded into Hell was unsavable. And so she prayed. She prayed for the souls of her friends, she prayed for the souls of her enemies. She prayed for a peaceful afterlife for all of them. She prayed for their forgiveness.

Finally after what seemed like hours of prayer she stood on unsteady feet. It was completed. There was nothing more she could do to save to souls of the dead, the rest was left up to them. Whatever their fate would be in the afterlife would now depend on what they had done in their lives on earth. Quickly and calmly she set fire to the battle ground, careful to cultivate it until it was hot enough to melt bone and destroy all traces of any of the warriors. She paid special attention to Kirara. She would make sure that all was left of the neko was ash and then she would spread that to the four corners of the world. She would never allow someone to use Kirara's ashes as Kikyous had been used. The hi-neko had died in battle with honor and her memory would not be sullied by any clay golem imitation of her.

As the last bit of ash was scattered to the wind Kagome exhaled slowly. She could breathe slightly easier now that there was only a few things she had left to do, however she wanted them done quickly. First she opened her mind and sent her spirit soaring out across the land in search of two specific youkai.

"Myouga, Totosai I need you."

She felt the answering call right away. They had felt the power levels in the area sky rocket and then had felt the evil presence of Naraku leave the earth. It was like an immense weight had been lifted from their shoulders and they had set out to investigate. They were already half way there. Even though the two were cowards by nature even they knew that the happenings needed investigating.

Smiling sadly Kagome gripped the fangs in her hands until blood ran down from between her fingers. She would gather the weapons of her comrades and take them home with her to a place where they would be cherished. Slowly she moved towards the first of her fallen friends weapons. The rosary beads that had allowed Miroku to hold his kaazana at bay lay so innocently on the ground. She scooped them up and gently rolled the beads between her fingers. So much pain concealed behind such a small thing. Next she swiftly plucked the golden staff that had been so dear to him from the ground where it stood. Using it as a support she walked on to her next destination listening to the calming music the rings made as they gently clinked together. She swore she could almost hear his soft laughter on the breeze.

The Hiraikotsu lay buried in the earth carelessly in the same position it had fallen upon Sango's last attack. With a quick flash of muscle Kagome wrenched it from the ground. She already possessed Sango's seldom used katana and a duplicate of her taijya suit including armor and a set of her arm blades, a gift on her last birthday. Kohaku's chain sickle was also in her possession although she did not carry it with her. It already rested in her shrine where at the behest of Sango she was training Souta to use it. Sango had told her that Kohaku would have wanted his weapon to help protect an innocent. Sango had said that weapons were made to be used and she did not want anyone other than someone she cared for to use her otouto's battle gear. Sango had left for two weeks to build the suits for Kagome and Souta.

Kagome's armor was done in blue while Souta's was in the tan pattern that Kohaku had once worn. Souta had been in awe of the girft and had demanded a picture of his new "nee-san" as he had taken to calling Sango. When Kagome had returned back that time it had been with a tape recorder full of messages for Sango from her new "otouto". After explaining to the girl that the device was not a youkai and would not steal her soul she had watched as Sango had tearfully replied to each and every one of Souta's questions. It had been a heart breaking scene.

Now she would have to return home and tell her otouto that he had lost his other onee-san. She was not looking forward to that experience.

Upon reaching the last weapon she trembled. This was the one that she had no desire to touch. Testsusaiga was something that she had never wanted to have control over. The fang was not for her and she had always known that. The blade was the protector of all the ningen in the world and as such should be used by someone who was worthy. InuYasha had at one time possessed the potential to be that person, but the twisted mind of Kikyou had warped him into something cursed. She had made him into a grotesque mockery of what he had once been. She had twisted his soul and his mind until all he could do was follow in her footsteps all the way to Hell.

The fang sent out a pulse of energy when her hand first made contact with the hilt. It recognized her aura and it accepted her even if it could feel the hesitance she felt towards it. The blade really did have a life of its own. Tetsusaiga picked its own master and apparently it was content to rest in her grasp until it chose another. Quietly she sheathed the blade and tucked it into the belt of her hakama. She had completed her mission and now it was time to rest beside her kit. Smoothly she made her way back towards him.

Kagome sunk to the ground beside Shippou and after depositing the weapons on the ground, pulled the sleeping kit into her arms, rewrapping her haori around him and gently petting his hair. She waited calmly for the two old youkai to arrive and soon enough the ancient three-eyed ushi youkai came down in front of her with a crack of lightning.

"Kagome-sama!" A tiny voice squeeked, followed by the annoying prickle of a flea bite to her neck. On relfex her hand came up to swiftly smack at the sting and she watched slightly amused as a now flat Myouga floated down to rest on her open palm.

"Hello Grandfather Myouga, Grandfather Totosai. It is good to see you again."

"Oh Kagome-sama I can't say I was expecting you to be here but I suppose if anyone was to kill Naraku it would be this group of youngsters eh Myouga."

"You are correct Totosai. No one but Master InuYasha would be able to defeat that evil hanyou! Speaking of which where is Master InuYasha? I would be honored to offer my congradulations on his sucess."

"I am afraid that what you see here is all that is left of my comrades in arms. The rest...did not survive."

The two elder youkai gasped before taking in the blood stained appearance of the miko for the first time. She was cut and bleeding badly. Slashes ran across her neck in the form of claw marks, while a single thin line traced from her the top of her eye to the underside of her jaw. Her hakama carried numerous slashes and were stained with blood and ash, the same as her chest bindings. And from what they could see her haori had not faired any better. However the slash on her stomach worried them. It was still bleeding rather badly and both of them could smell the stench of poison along the edges, it was festering and needed attention soon.

"Dear Kami Kagome-sama what has happened here!? What has happened to you and your kit?"

"Calm down Myouga, I am fine and Shippou is simply resting. As to what happened, well it should explain itself. We faced Naraku and we won, or at least I think we did. I am not really sure you can call this a victory."

"Kagome-sama..."

"It's alright Totosai. Now I called you for a reason. I need to ask a favor of each of you if you do not mind?"

"Anything for you Mistress Kagome."

"Myouga I am not your mistress. You are your own flea now."

"I disagree milady. The Great and Terrible Inu Taisho would never forgive me if I failed to serve one such as yourself. Why I dare say that he would have been proud to call you musume."

"As I would have been honored to call him Father. Now as for the requests that I have of each of you. Myouga I need you to seek out Sesshoumaru-sama. Tell him that the Tetsusaiga is his if he wants it and that Naraku has been disposed of. Tell him that my debt has been repaid. Tell him that he has three days to reply or else Tetsusaiga will go with me to my homeland. Make sure he is aware that I mean no disrespect."

"Of course Mistress Kagome. I will leave at once. However I ask you one thing. When will I be able to find you again? I do not want to fall behind in my duties."

"Look for me at the Bone-Eaters well five hundred years from now. Where that well is I will be. As for your duties, I wish for you to travel to the hanyou Jinenji's garden. Tell him that I sent you and you are to be his to command for the next five hundred years. Serve him as you would serve me Myouga. I expect an answer from Sesshoumaru in three days time at the Bone-Eaters well. I will be waiting."

The flea-youkai was gone as quickly as he had come, the only clue to his departure was the caw of a crow as he turned it torwards the direction Sesshoumaru would most likely be partolling. Kagome turned to Totosai.

"Have no worries Grandfather Totousai, your mission is not nearly as dangerous as his. I simply ask you to forge for me a blade. I want you to make a katana for my kit from the fangs that I have in my possession and a large amount of my blood. Is it possible for you to do that for me in three days?"

"Well little missy it might me cutting it slightly close but I am sure that I can have you a high quality katana in under three days. So what fangs are you wanting me to use this time? It's not inu again is it? Inu teeth are always so hard to work with."

"Have you ever worked with neko before Grandfather Totousai?"

"Neko? Well only once or twice. Those furballs are so picky with what they do with their teeth. It is a shame though cause they make some of the finest weapons."

"Well then I expect this one to be especially excellent."

She extended her blood covered hands towards him. He gingerly removed the blood encrusted fangs from her palms and rolled them around thoughtfully.

"These will do nicely indeed. You will have the finest weapon of neko and miko to ever be made. I will do my finest work on these pieces. I will see you in a bit, no time to waste then. Ja!"

With a flashing crack of lightning he was gone the same way he had appeared, and once again Kagome found herself alone in the clearning. Her wounds were still bleeding and she knew that infection would be setting in about now. She desperately needed to clean her wounds. However they would have to wait. She had three days to get back to that well and Kaede's village and her strength was waining.

Trembling she stood, and after securing all of her weapons to her body she once again scooped up her kit and set off.

For two and a half days she walked without stopping. Her stomach had stopped bleeding a while back and had slowly scabbed over with clotted blood but now every step she took ripped it open again causing a fresh trickle of blood to flow down her front. Finally she arrived at the village, exhausted and trembling from exertion. She collapsed in the ruins of what had once been Kaede's hut. She deposited the weapons onto the floor of the hut and carefully set Shippou down to sleep on the mat. Standing up straight she cracked her back and set off to find the bath she so desperately needed.

A few moments later she sunk into the hot springs and began to rinse the blood and gore form her frame. She had no time to relax, this was no vacation. The others would be arriving any time now and Shippou was sleeping in the hut unprotected except for her slightly shakey barrier. Using the naturally growing plant life around her she set out to make a poultice which would help to heal her wounds quicker. She had been able to do only minor healing on herself before, actually only enough to neutralize the toxins in her systems before they killed her. Once she was finished she quickly redressed in her soiled clothes since she was without extras and did not have the time or the drive to wash them at the moment.

Returning to the hut she carefully gathered up all of the weapons that she had carried for almost three days non-stop and her kit and set off to the well. There was not time to waste with memories, she had a mission to finish and she wanted it over with. As she closed in on the well she felt nothing out of place so she calmly sat down with her back propped against the anceint wood and her kit in her lap.

Some time passed before she felt the auras of three youkai, all of which she recognized but none of which belonged to Sesshoumaru. It seemed as if Myouga, Totosai and Momo had returned earlier than expected.

"Mistress Kagome!"

"Kagome-sama!"

"Mooo!"

"Welcome back fellows. I trust all went well?"

Myouga looked sheepish for a moment and then quickly bounced up and down from where he stood on her hand.

"Sesshoumaru-sama says that he holds no interest in the Tetsusaiga! He says that the hanyou's fang is yours to keep, he has no need of it. I must say though that he looked highly amused when I told him that your debt was repaid. He smirked and said that he had expected nothing less."

"I am sure that he did exactly that. So Totosai, how did your project turn out?"

"Most excellent Kagome-sama! Better even than I had expected!" The old youkai hopped down from his place upon his noble steed and crossed over to her carrying a lumpy bundle. Gently he handed it over to her, and watched eagerly as she slowly unwrapped it.

Inside lay two exquistly forged blades. A matching set it appeared. The blades were curvy in a way that reminded Kagome briefly of the butterfly knives she had seen in the yakuza movies in her youth. The hilt tops were adorned both with small leaves, both of which held in their centers two blood red tama that Kagome suspected contained her blood. The sheathes were done just as fine, the detail was beautiful. Golden and silver kitsune ran around the base amongst a shower of sakura blossoms. They were more than worthy of her kit.

"Arigatou Grandfather Totousai. You have out done yourself. I am honored that my son will wield these blades."

"Only the best for the son of our savior."

"I am no ones savior Totosai. I am unworthy of such a title."

"But..."

"Do not argue with me on this onegai. Just take my word for it."

"Yes, I understand."

Kagome stood and vaulted up to where she sat on the rim of the well.

"I guess this is sayanora for now. It has been an honor to have met you all. Maybe we will meet again sometime."

"You can bet on that Mistress Kagome."

Finally after almost three days of silence Shippou stirred in her arms weakly and opened his eyed, "Mother where are we going?"

"Home, baby. We are going home." And with that Kagome vaulted into the well and disappeared into the time stream, never to be seen in that era again. The only witnesses to her departure were three old youkai and a tree that had seen much in its long life.

"What is it that you think he did to her Totosai? What exactly is it that Master InuYasha did to Mistress Kagome to make her think that way?"

"He broke her Myouga. He crushed her spirit and choked her soul. He shattered her heart into a million pieces, and I can only pray that she can find them all one day. I can only pray."

AN: And so is the first revised chapter of Tears. I would love to know what everyone thinks of it.


	2. Teardrop 2

Disclaimer: If only...if only...

Teardrop Two

THREE MONTHS LATER

If a normal person had walked into the room at that moment all they would have seen was a young man yelling at what appeared to be a briefcase.

"Hey toddler, hurry up and tell us what the hell you want. Keiko is going to kill me for ditching her again." grumbled Yusuke Urameshi, formally dead spirit detective of Ningenki

"Yusuke, if you would give the rest of the team a chance to arrive I will gladly inform you of your new assignment so I can turn off this damn thing and no longer have to see your face!" Koenma was screaming by now at a smirking Yusuke.

Yusuke was a tall well muscled young man. His stubborn jaw and slicked back black hair gave him the appearance of a typical badass with a chip on his shoulder. It was not until you gazed deep into his honey colored eyes that you realized just how misleading his appearance really was.

There was nothing ordinary or normal about this man. In his eyes there was a gleam of hardness and a determination to survive and succeed that was chilling to witness. A person would not think that someone so young would have that look in his eyes. Those eyes belonged to war survivors or people who had seen things that they should posses no knowledge of at all.

However, underneath it all there was sheen of softness that was barely visible if you did not know to look for it. Though most did not even try to look beyond the surface. If they had they would have seen the real him. Afterall it is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul.

In his eyes there could be seen the hope that somebody would come along and help to reopen his eyes to the good in the world. That maybe some person somewhere in the three worlds would be able to show him that the monsters he saw so often were not the only ones out there.

Yusuke had come close to giving up hope a couple of times in his life and yet in each instance there had always been someone who had pulled him back from the darkness. It was as if fate had been telling him that it was not yet his time to go, as if he had more that he had to accomplish in his lifetime. It had turned out to be correct. Yusuke could honestly say that dieing was the best thing that had ever happened to him, as strange as it sounded. While his life since then had been anything but easy, he could say in all honesty that for first time in history he felt as if he belonged. He had found a place for himself among the youkai that he had met along the way. For the first time he felt as if no matter what, there was someone out there that would accept him for who and what he was. No matter how dark or how weak he sometimes became.

Although he bitched and complained about his job and his boss, he and everyone else knew that he would never trade those days and those memories for anything. They were at times his light in the darkness.

The two paused in their juvenile and yet totally jovile argument at the simultanious opening of the bedroom door and the only window of the room.

Suuichi Minamino, or Kurama as he prefered to be called, walked through the door with a grace and elegance that only he seemed to posses. The tall figure was crowned with a stunning head of glistening red hair the color of the deepest roses or the color of a person's hearts blood. Both descriptions were hauntingly accurate. His eyes were the hue of the deep forest after the first real summer rain. They were seductively entrancing, and had the ability to make a person feel as if he was gazing into their very soul and reading their minds at the same time. What was even more amazing was his ability to make you love the feeling of telling all to him and crave the opportunity to do so again.

Hai, he was smooth. He could kill you before you even realized he had struck. He could turn a harmless piece of grass into a deadly needle, or a beautiful rose into an evil killing machine. He could steal anything before you even realized he was there at all.

He was a kitsune alright, hypothetically and literally.

Kurama was by far, no ordinary ningen male. Some twenty two years before, the great silver kitsune bandit Yoko Kurama was injured, and forced to take refuge outside of the Makai. In a desperate attempt to recover his spiritual energy he implanted his soul into the body of a ningen onna's unborn child. He had at the time all intentions of waiting ten years before leaving the Ningenkai behind. However when his okaasan fell ill he found that he could not bear to leave her side. That onna had succeded in gaining the love of one of the most illusive youkai in history. And as time passed the Youko found that his soul and the soul of the unborn child were somehow slowly coming together.

It is true that he and the soul of the child had always found themselves to be on the same spiritual frequency. Somehow the child had a spirit that ran parallel to his own. He did not doubt that even without his influence the boy would have been a powerful psychic, perhaps on par with even Genkai herself. Undoubtably he would have had a natural talent of sorts with locks and perhaps even an unexplainable affinity for plants. The boy would have been an exceptional ningen with the potential for genius.

However with the infusion of a kitsune soul that had seen over a thousand years pass by, he was extraordinary. He excelled at anything and everything he put his mind to. He was the model student, the perfect child, the perfect son, and yet there was always something missing in him. His okaasan could see it in his eyes, and his mannerisms. It was as if the boy was not whole. He kept everyone at a distance, letting no one close to him, not even his own okaasan. There was a coldness about him that was unheard of in a child. His okaasan dismayed of ever really reaching him and feared that she would lose him before she was ready. Things had changed slightly when she had saved him from being sliced on the broken plate. He had looked up at her with the most bewildered and confused expression on his face. After that instance things had been slightly smoother.

As an avatar Kurama had a more than slightly difficult time relating to anyone. Those of Ningenkai tended to place him on an altar, his physical features and his brilliant mind set him apart from all others. Those of the Makai tended to see him as below them. They believed that since he had sided with the ningen team in the Ankoku Bujutsukai he was himself a youkai traitor. They would never understand the reasons behind his decisions.

And although the two souls were different, they had each come to find a sort of peace and comfort with the other. The Yoko had found a source of closeness that he had not had with anyone since his time with Kuronue embodied within the ningen soul. The soul of Suuichi had found what seemed like a missing piece of itself. The kitsune soul that shared its body had given it the ability to reach its full potential. They were each grateful to the other even if they did have their differences at time.

Yoko was not a typical kitsune, he was a silver. His grace and beauty surpassed all other races of kitsune and his skills in thievery and combat were legendary. He had been challenged by many in his time but had found few that completely over shadowed his strength. He was not so arrogant as to believe that he was all powerful and undefeatable. There were many that were stronger than he, that had been proven with Yusuke's second reawakening. However those that did wield such power would find it useless to challenge him. While his strength may not have been on the highest level possible his intelligence level far surpassed any he had ever encountered. On the few occassion that he had found himself out classed strength wise, he had no problem finding a way out through trickery. The Yoko was known for his cruel and calculating intellect.

Kurama was the neutral force between the two. A blend of some of the best traits of the two souls, he was most formidable. While he did not possess all of the strength of the kitsune he did posses a great deal of it. Mixed with the natural spiritual abilities of Suuichi, the avatar was brilliant when it came to controling his plants. As well as the strength of the bandit he also possessed his keen intellect and more often than not his cold, cruel, calculating mannerisms. They were made all the more deadly by the fact that they were hidden behind the calm and seemingly gentle facade that was their ningen body. With his eerie calm and smooth countenance he was a formidable and intimidating foe. However the one flaw in the make-up of what seemed to be the perfect blend between the two would be the uncommon amounts of pity and compassion that Kurama often showed. Even though he was still as deadly as ever it was common for him to allow his more ningen emotions to interfere and often cause him injury.

While the kitsune had used the door like any normal person, the figure draped acroos the window sill was the most unpredictable member of the team.

Hiei was a youkai of short stature, but he brought truth to the fact that looks can be deceiving. Even though Hiei was small height wise his power levels were extraordinary. The diminitive youkai had overcome cruel odds to become an exceptionally powerful fighter. His arms and legs bulged with muscles that were easily detectable through his loose black pants and his blue shorn shirt. He stood at about 4 foot 9 inches tall, and his gravity defying hair did nothing to distract from his slightly evil image. The hilt of the katana he wore strapped to his waist was worn and tattered, a testament of his unending attempts to strengthen his skills.

The two most interesting items of his attire was the white bandana that he wore constantly around his forehead and the white bandages that were ever present wrapped around his right arm from his knuckles all the way up to just slightly past his elbow.

The bandana could be played off for a number of different reasons in the ningen world. Some people would say that Hiei was in a gang, was scared on his forehead, wanted to look extra tough, and a few wiser ones might even say that he wore the bandana simply because he wished to. But as wise as their guesses would have been if Hiei was just a simple ningen thug, they were way off base with the real Hiei. Hiei wore the bandana because he did in fact like the way it looked but more importantly he liked the way it concealed his forehead, making the skin that circled his skull invisible to any passerbyer. Hiei did in fact have something to hide, something extremely unique.

Underneath that tiny scrap of cloth there was an eye. This eye was no normal appendage in the least; in fact this eye did not even belong to Hiei himself. The eye was called the Jagan, and it was extremely powerful. Granting him the ability to peer into the minds of others, it also gave him telekinetic powers, and after an extended period of weakness when first gaining the implant, it increased his more natural attacks ten fold. The Jagan eye was an extremely powerful companion, if one could survive the ordeal required to accquire it. When dealing with the youkai implant there was one important thing that could never be forgotten: control, true control is nothing but a dream, and even the most powerful must wake up sometime. The Jagan could never be fully under anyones control.

The bandages were just as, if not more, interesting than the bandana. Wrapped around his arm from below his wrist and up to just past his elbow it looked as if he had been badly injured. In fact it was just the opposite. If anyone with a bit of spiritual awareness were to gaze at his arm for a prolonged period of time they would notice that the aura around it was darker, and even more hostile than was normally associated with Hiei's somber and calculating form. The same could be said for the aura that surrounded the Jagan, except that that aura was wilder and more untamed than even Hiei's aura normally appeared. The bandage was in fact keeping something restrained, a creature that had the power to destroy its own master.

Resisting the urge to fry a certain detective for all of the yelling that could be heard seconds before, Kurama calmly spoke.

"Koenma-sama you asked to see Hiei and myself, and here we are. What exactly was it that you wanted to see the team about sir?

Aware that the time for business was at hand Koenma quickly resumed his appearance of unruffled ruler.

Clearing his throat he once again began, "Well Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke I am afraid that your lives have just got a lot more complicated.

"How in the hell did you fuck up this time Koenma?" Yusuke grumbled.

"I resint that implication Yusuke, I have done nothing wrong."

"Sure you haven't." The ever diplomatic detective snorted in disbelief.

"Now what I need for you to do is to track down and bring back two people..."

AN: I am aware that there have been some major plot changes in this story but please do not stop reading.


	3. Teardrop 3

Disclaimer: If only...if only...

Teardrop Three

"Ah, what a perfectly beautiful, normal day. It makes me sick." Kagome sighed from her spot at the top of the shrine steps as she stared at the cars that passed by on the road.

'These people just don't know how lucky they are to not know about the youkai that are around them every day. Like the two that are coming up right now. Wait a moment, two youkai approaching my shrine right now with auras I am not familiar with. Just when I had hoped that I could rest for sometime before I had to do battle again. Perhaps they are simply passing by and mean me and mine no harm. I suppose I should warn them that I am here so they do not make the mistake of assuming that this shrine is easy prey, but since they are a ways aways they could just be passing by..'

Grumbling Kagome swiftly moved from here position at the top of the steps and moved until she was standing underneath the Goshinboku. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she quickly jumped straight up into the boughs of the trees sweet embrace. She was not worried about anyone seeing her amazing jumping skills since there were seldom any visitors at her shrine. The fact saddened her that the once busy tourist attract that the shrine had been, was now reduced to only being frequented by those that had _special_ needs. She knew that most of the people who frequented the shrine were wary of her now. Most had either heard of her supposed illnesses in school or had come to find her quiet and often emotionless form unsettling. It did not, however, prevent them from coming to her for medicine and charms, sometimes even exorcisms. The only exception to that rule was on today, the only day of the year when the shrine was full of people, the first were expected to arrive within the hour. Their fear did not bother Kagome as it once would have for she believed if everyone were frightened then no one would try and get close to her. If nobody got close there would be nobody there when the youkai came after the tama again, and come they would.

Kagome was under no illusions where her own personal safety was concerned. She knew that youkai would come for her constantly until she found a way to destroy the tama and they would probably come after that because of her power. At least that is what she had once believed. She was now aware of the fact that the tama would never be destroyed. So the youkai would come no matter what she did. She had long ago made peace with the fact that she would die one day, but because of the tama's hold on her, not any time within the next millennium.

This was one of the reasons that she had started training Shippou as early as she had. She had known that at the time Shippou would not be able to count on InuYasha for protection if she died. Miroku and Sango would have tried to protect the kit but they had only been ningen. Many youkai had come for Shippou knowing that he was the kit of the guardian of the Shikon no Tama. So with these thoughts in mind Kagome had personally trained her kit so that she would not have to worry for his safety.

She had trained Shippou to the best of her ability. Since the kit now possessed some of her own blood in his viens he had so much more potential than he once had. He had mastered the art of kitsune magic and the manipulation of plants better than any youkai they had come across over twice his age. Even though he was still young, Shippou was able to take care of most youkai that he come across, and as time went on and he continued to grow, so would his powers. But no matter how powerful he was he was still a child and he needed his okaasan. Kagome vowed she would always be there for him.

Deciding that a small show of power was all that would be needed to scare away or at least warn the two approaching youkai of her whereabouts she marginally dropped the spell that concealed her powers, allowing her inner purity to spill forth and blanket the shrine grounds. None with evil intentions would be able to stand the sheer amount of holy powers that radiated from the very ground. She would see just how brave these two were in the face of one as powerful as she. As her power expanded further she picked up on a third and fourth aura, one of which made her freeze in place.

She took her examination one step further and sending out trendles of her power she cautiously poked at the third aura she had discovered. When she made contact she growled out loud in pure anger. Unless she was mistaken there was someone approaching her shrine that was forbidden to even approach unless in dire circumstances, but she was hardly ever mistaken.

With Yusuke, Kurama, Botan, and Hiei.

"Hey you guys do ya'll feel that?"

"What is it that you feel Yusuke?" Botan asked the Toushin.

"Well you know that ever since I inherited Kuwabara's spirit awareness I can sense auras right?"

"Of course." Botan

"Well I sense this massive aura up ahead."

"Is it evil Yusuke?" Questioned a calm and collected Kurama

"Surprisingly no. It's more like its warning us away from the area, not really threatening us or anything." Yusuke replied.

"Could it be the one that Koenma-sama told us about? Hiei can you sense anything? My senses seem to be too dull in this form." Kurama asked turning to the smaller fire apparition.

"Hn. Yes I can sense this person. It's female and it's probably the person the toddler told us about." Hiei replied.

"How strong is this aura, Yusuke?" Botan questioned him timidly.

Yusuke widened his spirit awareness powers slightly and scanned the area to try and get a handle on just how strong this aura really was. At the exact moment that he extended his own powers, the aura seemed to explode with power and what he sensed amazed even him.

Turning to the rest of the group Yusuke whispered in awe, "It's bigger than anything I've ever sensed before. It's massive and for some reason it seems like most of its power is being withheld. I'm pretty sure that this is just a taste of what's to come."

"Well let's go and see where it's coming from shall we?" Kurama offered.

"Great idea Kurama." Botan commented smiling. Then as suddenly as she spoke her face turned an ashen gray and her knees began to shake. Her hands flew upwards to her mouth to try and hold in the gasp that escaped her.

"K-Kagome-sama!" The words escaped her in a hushed and frightened tone as the reaper made the connect that had previously escaped her mind.

The others swung around to face her as Yusuke shot forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Botan!!"

"S-She knows we are here..."

"What!?!" Yusuke barked. "How is that possible! We have to be too far away for her to sense us!! Even with Kuwabara's powers I only caught the ass end of her aura and he was one of the strongest psychics we knew!!"

"You do not understand Yusuke! Kagome-sama is not a normal ningen! She is beyond anything you, any of you, have ever seen. She has the power within her to bring even the Reikai to its knees!"

"Impossible!" A shocked and now wary Kurama responded.

"I'm afraid not! We have to be extra careful when we approach her. Clear your minds of any thoughts of malice and anger because she will pick up on them. You do not want to test the strength of her holy energy."

"I don't care if she has enough power to take down Enma himself! Koenma said that we need to find her and we are going to go find this Kagome and see if she will come with us!" With that Yusuke turned away intent on finding the person who would try and take the place of Kuwabara, the one who had died to save them all.

The closer they came to the shrine that was supposed to house this mysterious miko the stronger the aura that radiated from the place became. The holy ki was so strong that the hairs on the back of Yusuke's neck had begun to rise in warning that this was a sacred place and disrespect would not be tolerated.

Hiei could not with hold his snort of disdain at the very thought that a mere onna would have the amount of power that Botan spoke of. While he was not sexist like most youkai, Hiei still had a hard time believing Botan. Though he was aware that there were females that possessed even more power than he did, namely that bitch named Mukoro, he refused to believe that a mere ningen was one of them.

Overall though he was bored. After being under the control of the Reikai for so long he had experence complete freedom again for a short period of time when the team had been disbanded. Then that incident had occured and Enma had recalled his bounty on Yusuke's head and had instead placed them on his own and Kurama's. Thus they had been forced to once again work for Reikai in order to have the bounties removed and for Yusuke to remain a free youkai.

However since they had been reinstated there had been little action to be had for Hiei and frankly he was eager to kill again. But sadly enough he was walking down this road on the way to some ningen bitch's house instead of off killing lesser youkai in Makai. It was all Koenma's fault...

Flashback

"There has been a major mix up in the reincarnation halls of the Reikai. Let us just say that a soul that was never supposed to be released has escaped. This soul was so powerful that we had no were in the Reikai to place it that would hold it and as such we had to create a special chamber for its contaiment."

"Does this soul have a name Koenma-sama?" Kurama asked quietly.

"Yes Kurama it does. You may have heard of Rubito?"

Kurama was visably shocked by the mere mention of the name and suprise was even evident on the face of Hiei.

"Koenma-sama you can not mean the Rubito Toukagawa!?! The one from the legends that circulated ever since even Youko was a small kit."

"I am afraid that you are correct Kurama. That is exactly who I mean."

"The Reikai is even more foolish than I had first thought."

"Hey now hold on a minute! While Hiei is probably right it would be nice if you guys would educate the member of the team that isn't a couple of hundred years old!"

"Right sorry Yusuke. I think that I will allow Kurama to tell the tale since he seems to be so well acquainted with it."

Kurama inclined his head at the young kami before turning to Yusuke and begining his tale.

"I am not sure of the time period exactly, I just know that this story was already a legend that many did not believe when even the Youko was but a small kit. It was said that during one of the first dynasties to ever rule over the country of Japan there was a son born to the emporer. The childs name was to be Rubito Toukagawa. According to legend the emporer was unusually fond of the child, it was supposed to be the fact that he looked so much like his departed okaasan, the emporers favorite concubine. But no matter how great the emporers love was for his son it could not stop the fact that the other children in the castle were terrified of the young Rubito. It was said that outside of the presence of his father the child was freakishly strange in his mannerisms. He would often speak to voices that the others could not hear, and would appear to do battle with creatures that others were unable to see."

"He was a psychic like Sensui!" Yusuke whispered.

"He was, but at the time ningen were not so aware of the existance of youkai, and the powerful roles of houshi and miko had not yet been developed to a great enough extent where his powers would be recognized. Instead the child was ostricized by the other tenents of the castle. As such he grew to be a lonely child with a shrouded heart that held love only for his father since he had been the only one to be kind to him. But that would all change when war came to the emporers gates."

Kurama walked softly to the window sill where Hiei sat and leaned his back against the wall beside the fire apparition.

"One day while the young Rubito was away on a hunting expedition the castle was attacked. What followed was a massacre of giant proportions. Everyone in the castle was killed and the buildings were set to the torch. The screams of the people were heard from miles away. Able to feel that something was amiss the young prince turned around and headed full speed to his home. When he arrived it was to find his castle in flames. They say that he was mad for he ran without hesitation into the inferno screaming his fathers name. When he reached his fathers chambers it was to find a single masked man standing over his corpse. What happened next was clouded in inuendo and superstion, but somehow Rubito found out that the single man had destroyed his entire castle and slain the emporer. His name was Ryu Hayabusa, and he was a member of a clan of assassins hired to destroy Rubito's clan. They apparently battled, with Ryu coming out on the upper hand, for when the young Rubito finally emerged from the ruins of the castle he swore revenge upon the entire clan."

"The emporers son chose a dark path after that. He began to study any kind of magic that would help him to over come an entire village of assassins. He attacked many times but was each time defeated. Finally after once battle when he lay close to death, Rubito made a choice. He offered up his body and soul to the youkai in the surrounding area for the power to destroy the clan. The youkai eagerly accepted. A ningen body and soul that possessed that amount of power would be perfect for them. And as such Rubito became what he had spent most of his life killing. The newly made hanyou went on a killing spree, he destroyed everything in his path until he reached the village. The assassins were not foolish people, they had heard of the evil that was roaming the country side and they knew that it would be only a matter of time before it reached their gates. They tried to send all of the women and children away from the village but it was too late. Rubito had already sent youkai ahead of him and they killed off all that attempted to leave the village gates. The clan resisted and killed many youkai but even their might could not last forever. Finally when he reached the village he sent out an awesome assualt and eventually all that were in the village died, including the assassin named Ryu. His mission complete Rubito wished to expell the youkai from his body but found that he could not. Instead they further corrupted him and twisted his mind into something even more unholy. He continued to travel the countryside aimlessly killing all that he saw."

"Wait a minute I thought Koenma said that his soul escaped from Reikai!? That means that he died. Who killed him then?"

"Well while Rubito killed all that he could see move in the village he overlooked one very important person. There was a young onna who was heavy with child that had been sent from the village with the last group of people. She had been attacked like the others and left for dead. But a mothers love for even her unborn children is legendary. The onna managed to drag herself further into the woods were she managed to give birth to her child alone. Around her the woods seemed to rejoice in the birth of the child, as if they could tell that there was something special about the infant. The mother wept with joy but she knew that she was dieing. The wound in her back and the blood lost in the birth was too much for her ningen body to handle. So she begged the forest to take care of her child so that her daughter would survive and grow to be strong. As if in answer to her prayers the giant tree underwhich she lay seemed to sway its branches down until they wrapped around the babe. It gently lifted the sleeping child up into its boughs until it was hidden from all that would seek it. The mother seeing that her child was safe died at the base of the tree and her blood and bones provided nurishment that helped the tree to flourish. This Tree of Ages took care of the child with the help of the creatures of the forest. She was taught about her own ancestory using the memories gained from the corpse of her mother. She learned the ways of the forest and the customs of the youkai. It was said that she was beautiful and wild and had a love for everything that surrounded her. She was also a fierce warrior with immense powers. But one day she came across the hanyou who had destroyed her clan and they battled. For days the struggle continued. The woman called upon the forest and the elements to aid her while the hanyou called upon the darkness of the youkai that he contained. Finally the battle ended and the woman was the victor. But her victory did not come without a price. Her soul was ripped from her body in the battle and was barred entrance to the afterlife. Instead her spirit traveled back to the place of her birth and was once again shielded in the boughs of the Tree of Ages. It is said that when the spirit of Rubito returns so shall she."

"Damn. Did she have a name?" The fascination for this woman could be heard clearly in the tone of Yusukes voice.

"That Yusuke is something that I am afraid neither the Youko or myself know." Kurama stated softly.

"She was called Higurashi, or Sunset, after the time of her birth and her death." Suprisingly it was Hiei that offered up the information.

"Well Hiei I am suprised that you are familiar with the legend of the Sunset Maiden." Koenma exclaimed.

"Her survival always intrigued me." Was the suprising reply.

There was a silence around the room as the meaning behind Hiei's words sunk in. The apparition had overcome similar odds of survival to become the strong youkai warrior he was today.

Koenma cleared his throat loudly, "Right well anyways on with the mission. I need you for to go to a shrine in Tokyo and bring back to me two people. Botan will accompany you so as to open a portal here. I will warn you that caution is neccesary when dealing with these two particular people. Their names are Kagome and Shippou Higurashi"

"Higurashi? Like in the legend?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"Yes. As a matter of fact they live in Sunset shrine which contains the very tree from the legends and was named for the Sunset Maiden. Now all that I am allowed to tell you is that looks are decieving. While a child may be a warrior, and an innocent a killer, kitsune can do more than steal, and miko can do more than kill, if given the correct motivation."

Kurama jolted visibly at those words as they stirred something deep inside of him and he could suddenly feel the Youko clawing at his mind before he settled down again.

The screen went blank after that cryptic message and no amount of pounding or yelling at it would bring Koenma back.

"What the fuck kind of mission is this! He has kitsune-boy over there tell us this long ass story and then he gives us a place to go and two names but nothing else to go on except that lame ass riddle!!" Yusuke raged.

"Now now Yusuke I am sure that Koenma-sama has a good reason for not telling you more than what he did." Botan attempted to soothe the flustered toushin.

"Well it had better be a damn good one because once we get done with this he is so getting his ass kicked!" Yusuke stated as he stormed from the room.

Far away in his office where no one could see him, Koenma paced across the floor worrying loudly at his pacifier. He was pale and worry lines could easily be seen across his brow.

"Dear sweet Kami, please Kagome forgive me for what I have done. But there was no other choice, the realms need you once again."

Flashback Ends

And so here he was stuck headed to a shrine that reportedly would be full of ningens on this day, that had come to pay respect to their Kami. It was pitiful in his opinion, he himself had faith in only himself, though he did believe in the kitsune most of the time.

As they reached the steps of the shrine the full extent of the holy ki that blanketed the area hit them all full force. It was massive, like nothing they had ever seen and they could understand now the reaction that Yusuke had to it. As they climbed the stairs the sounds of many voices became more and more obvious as did the smell. Apparently the shrine was full of ningen and they had no idea where to start looking for this Kagome and Shippou. It appeared as if they would have to split up and search.

Hiei decided that the sooner he accomplished this task the sooner he would be able to leave this foul smelling place. As with that thoughts in mind he allowed his Jagan to open itself a tiny bit beneath his bandana and scan the area, peaking into the minds of all the ningen that surrounded him. He was easily able to pinpoint his team members locations by the thoughts that circled through the people that surrounded them. For Kurama there were thoughts of his beauty and rumors of his identity that circulated through the crowd, for Yusuke his reputation still preceded him, and for Botan her hair color and unusual eyes were subject to debate.

Snorting he continued his scan until the most unusual thing happened. He came upon, quiet suddenly a blank spot in the crowd. It was as if someone had suddenly turned the volume down on the crowd and all that could be heard was the static of silence. Intrigued he proded deeper into the mind of the person that he had come across. For some reason he could not wait to peer inside this mind, he felt as if he needed to dive inside of this person and learn everything he could.

Opening his third eye a bit wider he prepared himself to look, and wondered briefly who this person was. He was mildly surprised when his first gentle touch was rejected but he was not totally shocked. Some people had naturally strong mental barriers and would reject his initial intrusion into their minds, but noone could stand strong against the Jagan. Smirking slightly he allowed the Jagan to open a little bit more and was completely stunned when the Jagan was thrown back and he could feel his own mental barriers being ripped down suddenly. He barely kept his feet as the pain tore through his skull. Then just as suddenly as it began it stopped and instead a soothing aura replaced where before there had been only pain. Suddenly there was inside his mind, the voice of a onna.

"It is not polite to try and poke into the minds of others without their permission, little firefly." Said the voice softly.

"Hn. Who are you?" Hiei questioned her.

"My name is not your concern."

"Stupid onna let me into your mind before I destroy you from the inside out."

Twinkling laughter was his only reply until he sent a small blast of power across the link.

"Hm you have spunk I'll give you that, but I never let anyone inside my mind unless they ask." The girl said in a sugary sweet voice.

"And I refuse to ask. I'll find a way past your defenses and then you will pay for your insolence." Hiei fairly snarled.

"If you say so."

"Hn."

The contact was abruptly cut off and Hiei found himself at a loss as to who it was that could have possibly had the power to not only block and repel the Jagan, but to also break past his own barriers. At that moment he felt the presence of someone standing directly behind him and he quickly spun around to confront the possible threat, cursing himself for not being aware of his surroundings. The purity in this place was throwing off his senses.

When he was finally facing the person who he had stupidly allowed behind him, he literally felt the breath be knocked out of him in shock.

Before him stood one of the most intriguing beings that he had ever locked his numerous eyes on. She was slightly taller than him, with pitch-black hair that while pulled up into a high ponytail still fell in soft strands almost down to her knees with two pink strips running the length and framing her face. Her eyes were a mixture of swirling blue and silver and were utterly entrancing. They also held a blankness that he found strangely disturbing. He knew this blankness well for he saw it every time he gazed at his own sorry reflection. It was the blankness of one who had seen or done things that they were not proud of, but had had no choice but to do. It was the blankness that came when one closed off ones feelings and showed no emotions.

She was clothed in what appeared to be traditional hakama and haori instead of the more appropriate kimono that most chose to wear when they visited the shrines. Her figure, or what he could see of it was small and nicely curved though if her face was to be a testement she was strong.

He could tell right away by the aura that surrounded her, that this onna was not a normal ningen. She briefly reminded him of Genkai in the way that she stood with her hands behind her back, and the overall way she carried herself. She was powerful, and she knew it. He knew that she was the one who had intrigued him so with her ability to block his Jagan.

"Onna tell me who you are and how you are able to block my intrusions." Hiei demanded.

"As I told you before who or what I am is of no concern to you. The only question that needs to be answered it what your business in this shrine is youkai." She replied calmly, so calmly that she reminded him of the kitsune and that irritated him.

"That is none of your concern either onna. Now you will let me into your mind so that I may find the answers I seek." Hiei fairly snarlded before he took a challenging step forward. She, much to his suprise, did not back down. Strangely enough he found himself pleased with that fact.

Leaning forward Hiei breathed in her aroma.

'She smell like honey and fire. So sweet.' Hiei thought.

'He smells like forest fires.' Kagome couldn't help but think.

Thinking that the onna could be easily fooled Hiei decided to change his approach.

"Let me in." He murmured softly trying to disguise his order as a request.

"Just because I am part ningen don't think that I am easily fooled apparition." Kagome snapped. She was starting to get angry since this little youkai thought that he could fool her so easily, especially in her own shrine. She had to admit though his voice was extremely sexy, like hot summer days and smokey summer nights.

'What does she mean by part ningen? And how does she know about youkai?' Hiei was slightly puzzled by the girl's statement.

Sighing softly he decided to go against his nature and actually ask a question.

"Girl, please tell me your name." He snapped exasperated.

"About time. My name is Ka..."

She was interrupted by the loud voice of a teenage boy.

"Kami am I hearing things or did Hiei just ask a girl for her name?" Yusuke questioned, stunned to see the tiny fire apparition so close to a human that he apparently was not trying to kill at the moment.

Kagome looked at the youkai that had traded barbs with her so intently. Surely the fates could not be so cruel. Here she was thinking that she had finally found someone who could hold her intrest for a long period of time and it had to be him. The man who killed her family.

Hiei.

Turning to the others that had appeared in the area they stood, Kagome spotted a familiar blue head.

"Botan," she snapped. "Take me to see Koenma , I need to speak with him now!"

Kagome waited impatiently for the ferry girl to open her portal. Stepping through Kagome only had one thought on her mind, 'Koenma you have a lot of explaining to do.'

AN: As I have stated before there have been some major plot changes in this story. That is one of the reasons that it has taken me so long to update. I simply was not able to continue the story while it went in its previous direction. So instead I took some time and I have revised a lot of stuff to bring about a whole new story.


	4. Teardrop 4

AN: Here is the fourth chapter to Tears redone and complete so do not skip it or you could possibly miss something important. On a after thought I'm making the journey through Botan's portal longer than normal. It will no longer be an instantaneous journey.

Disclaimer: If only...if only...

Teardrop Four

As Kagome stepped through the portal into Koenma's office she continued to mull over the turn of events which had brought her to her current situation. She was not worried about her shrine at the moment. Shippou would be home soon from his errands and he would wrap up the festivities and have the shrine cleared before she returned home. Noone would dare to harm anything in the shrine anyways. They did not wish to face her wrath.

She recalled the events that had taken place over the last three months since the demise of Naraku and the deaths of her family members. She recalled as she walked the fight with Naraku and the death of her friends, she vaguely recalled gathering Shippou into her arms and jumping into the well.

In short she recalled the worst moments of her life, so far.

Kagome had known that she could never return to the Fuedal Era, not since her "family" was dead. In the years that she had traveled with the group they had become her true family. For the first time in a long time she had felt as if she had truely belonged somewhere, that she no longer had to struggle just to seem normal. Over time the houshi had become her brother, the taijya her sister, the kit her son, the neko-youkai another undoubtfully more dangerous Buyo, and InuYasha had been...InuYasha.

Now that they were gone she had no reason to look back, looking back only brought pain. Crushing pain.

Thinking this she had passed through the well one last time, jumping out into her era and had sealed the well forever. It was her intention to try and glue together the crumbling pieces of her life in this era and moving on. She had once had thoughts of going back to school and maybe college, of one day opening a fighting studio for women so that no female would ever have to worry for thier safety as she had, so that no woman would be forced to depend on the protection of a man, for men were not always reliable. But those dreams had been abandoned after the first two years she had spent in the Fuedal Era. Now her dreams revolved around caring for the shrine and her kit, of protecting her family and training Souta to be a strong and capable warrior so that one day he could protect his own family. She had imagined how happy her mother and grandfather would be to know that she would be back for good this time. She knew that they would mourn the InuYasha they had known and that Souta would cry over the loss of his hero.

No matter what InuYasha had done to her over the years she had refused to take from Souta the innocence that she could see in his eyes. She would not soil Souta's mind with the harsh and often cruel treatment that his hero had forced her to indure.

She had then thought how happy Souta and Shippou both would be to have someone close to their own ages to play with. Someone who they could share all their boyhood secrets with, someone that could be to Shippou the one thing that she could never really be...a joyful friend.

She would always be Shippou's best friend but she could not now or ever be truely and wholely cheerful again. And besides Souta had always wanted someone to protect and Shippou's small stature would give him that illusion, even if Shippou had the ability to kill his 'uncle' with a single blow.

But all of Kagome's happy thoughts and planning for the future of her son and brother was not to be, for the fates she soon found, are truely sadistic.

Flashback

Kagome was tired, bone tired. She was the type of weary that came from not just physical exertion, but the type of drained that came from exhausting ones' mental and emotional strength as well.

All that she wanted to do was go inside, hug her little brother and gramps and mom, settle Shippou down on her bed and take a bath, and change clothes. She desperatly longed to rewash from her body the stench and feel of the blood of countless demons and her family. The clothes that she wore would be burned so as to protect the blood that they carried from ever being used against her.

Jumping from the well Shippou cradled in her arms she turned sat the sleeping kit down and unsheathed Midoriko. Driving the deadly blade deep into the wood of the well Kagome allowed a large amount of what was left of her spirit energy to seep into the blade of her sword and down into the well. Slowly she managed to change the flow of time so that the well no longer went into the past but held the user immobile for about two minutes in a state of suspended animation. Noone could unseal this well without her now not even the Kami.

Her power running at an all time low Kagome resheathed Midoriko and stooping over picked Shippou back up. Resting him gently in the crook of her arm she slid open the well house doors and stepped outside, or at least started to.

She stood frozen staring around her at the burning debris that was once her home. The only things that remained intact were the well house itself and the sacred tree. Not even the most evil beings would dare to risk the wrath of the fates themselves if they dared to tamper with that tree.

Cluthing Shippou close to her chest, but softly as not to awaken him, for she had no desire for him to witness such destruction as this she slowly looked around. Kagome began to feel the first stirrings of an emotion she had not felt in a long time; she felt...fear. True unbriddled fear. The kind that stops your heart and makes your blood run cold.

She refused to believe that the fates could be so cruel as to take from this world these innocent people who had done no wrong. She could not accept that these innocents could fall at the hands of such evil. For evil was definatly in the air. There was not enough for her to trace but there was enough that she could feel its presence.

She begged that she had not failed Souta, especially Souta. Kami please tell her she had not failed to protect her brother as she had failed to aid Sango in her quest to save Kohaku.

The gods were apparently being exceptionally cruel this day for her pleas and prayers feel on deaf ears.

In the rubble that Kagome recognized as the spot where her bedroom had once stood, the horrified miko spotted the broken and battered form of what appeared to be a hand. The appendage was to say the least in a horrible state. The skin was ripped and gashed in places and completely missing in some. What skin that did remain intact was terribly burned. The fingers were twisted at random and unnatural angles and the bone could be seen in some spots.

Now what struck Kagome the most about this lump of flesh was not the blood or the terrible burns but the size, it was...small. Like the hand of a woman or a smaller child. Then it struck her, the hand was childishly small.

Rushing forward intent on discovering to whom this hand belonged to Kagome stopped realizing that she still held Shippou. Turnig back she sprinted to the god tree and layed the sleeping kit in the protetive embrace of the trees roots. Whispering a request to the tree to keep the sleeping form of her son safe she was not suprised when she was answered with a low "yes" in her mind. The tree had been talking to Kagome all her life. She had once tought that it was her imagination but had realized shortly after the start of her journey that the tree was "alive" that it had a voice of its own and it considred her its daughter. As long as the tree still lived Kagome knew that she would be forever safe in the forest. That was one of the reasons that she had never really complained about sleeping outside.

Leaving the kit in his comfortable hollow on the ground Kagome went forward to the burning rubble that was once her home.

When she reached the spot where her room had stood and the hand now lay Kagome drew on her ever dwindling power supply. She had never been this drained before and it was taking its toll. Calling on her telekenitic abilities Kagome slowly lifted the debris from off of the figure that the hand belonged to. She gasped in shock as dozens of emotions flooded her. There was pain and anger, shock and grief, and the undying need for revenge that now burned in her soul. There in the burning debris, his body broken, bleeding,and scorched, his light forever extingueshed lay Souta.

His eyes were open and forever locked in the expression of sheer terror that comes from knowing that you are about to die and that there is noone to save you. Kagome knew that look, she had seen it many times on the faces of the children that she and the others had been unable to save. That was the look that had haunted her on the nights when she had been staring at the stars when she was supposed to be sleeping, the look that had followed her from the days when she had covered her true feelings with a smile, to the days where she showed barely any emotions at all. That was the look that would countinue to haunt her for the rest of her existance.

His skin was burned all over so that barely any remained at all. By the looks of the house Kagome could tell that the fire had been hot, unnaturally hot.

As she gazed on the form of her brother she felt her already broken heart shatter into a billion glimmering pieces that Kagome knew all of which could never be found. No matter how many years passed or what happened her heart would never be completely whole again.

As she stood there over his lifeless form she realzed that before she could gain her revenge she needed to know what had transpired here, who had commited this terrible crime, who she needed to kill. For whoever had done this was living on borrowed time.

Drawing on her powers once again she opened her mind to the still firing nerve endings of her brothers brain and filled them with the desire to replay the events of the day. Drove to her knees as weakness resulting from over exertion, a common side effect from using her powers as much as she had today, washed over her body she allowed what had surely been the last moments of her brother life fill her mind.

The images came to her in fragments since much of his memory had deteriorated due to the fact that he had been dead for hours now. As if in slow motion she watched the last hours of Soutas life on Earth take place seemingly before her very eyes.

She saw as if through his eyes his walk home from school with his friends, she felt as if his legs as he kicked his soccer ball around the shrine yard. She watched as he sat to eat dinner with mom and gramps. What hit her the hardest was when she saw as from a distance as Souta entered her room and layed down on her bed. As he grasped her pillow and tightly hugged it to his chest as he inhailed her sent. She saw as he prayed for her safety and heard his sweet voice as he begged for her to return home soon.

She could only stand helplessly by as she heard as if through his ears the screams of pain and despair from mom and gramps, how they screamed for Souta to run and get to safety. She felt his panic and then the blinding pain of red hot flames as his flesh was scorched from his body and the crushing weight as the roof of her room colapsed on his body. The last thought that went through his mind was a name.

Hiei.

With a jerk she was violently thrown from his mind as the last of his bodies energy was expelled in a violent blast. She felt as the final bit of Souta's life force finally ebbed from his body.

Gasping she opened her eyes to stare at her brothers body. Bending over she placed a gentle kiss him on his forehead and gently closed his still open eyes. Unleshing her powers once agian she searched for the bodies of her mother and grandfather although she knew that they were dead. She had heard their death cries in Souta's mind. When she located them she let out a sigh, she knew what she had to do.

Stooping she gently picked up Souta's broken form and cradleing him as if he were the most delicate creature on earth she walked to the Goshinboku. Laying him down in front of where Shippou rested she walked to her kit and picked him up. Turning she walked to the well house and lay him on the floor, still wrapped in her haori, then she turned again and walked out, closing the door behind her. She had no desire for him to see this either.

Going back to the house she dragged and carried her mother and grandfather to lay beside Souta. Calling once again on her ever dwindeling powers she called a large sphere of flame into her hands. Throwing it forward she watched as the flaming sphere quickly incinerated the bodies of her family once again and their souls were sent to the next plane.

Sending out a second flow of power this time in the form of ice she calmed the flames that still leaped around her once happy home. Calling upon her miko powers she scattered their ashes to the winds as she knew they would have wanted.

When that work was finished Kagome called to the god tree, ruler of the forests and gaurdian of time itself. "Mighty Goshinboku you have often protected me and my family, your presence has brought great joy to my home, I now have a favor to ask of you. Help me to raise a memorial for the ones that I have loved and lost. You who have control over the earth and who underneath your boughs any memorial that was erected would always be safe. I beg of you, you who have lived through the ages, you once knew the Inu hanyou InuYasha, the taijya Sango, houshi Miroku, and the neko Kirara, you who watched as my brother Souta grew and you who saw my gandfathers crazy antics, you remember my childhood and the life of my mother, I ask only for your assistance in remembering the ones who have always cared for you and those who have cared for me. Please I implore you."

As she finished her speech a breeze arose from seemingly nowhere. It picked up speed slowly until it twirled around her in a cyclone gently brushing the fallen leaves that covered the ground across her skin and whipped her knee length hair around her body. As it died down there was a voice upon the breeze.

"My daughter there is no need to beg me for anything. I do remember the ones of who you spoke of and I remember your family and your childhood. I also recall the pain that you suffered in the past, all of your pasts. I have no desire for you to feel any more pain so yes my child I will help you to erect a memorial fitting of your family."

"Thank you my lord." Kagome bowed respectfully to the tree.

With awe she watched as the ground before the tree began to shift and shake. Slowly the earth itself raised up and was shaped. When the statue was finished Kagome could only stare at the beautiful figures that stood before her.

There before her stood her family, her whole family in all their glory, untouched, unharmed and unaged. Reaching out she stopped short of stroking the now stone face of her brother.

The figures stood on a slightly raised stone platform. Off to one side stood her family from the past, Miroku stood close to Sango's side his arm suprisingly around her waist. Sango stood relaxed, a quiet contented smile on her beautiful face while Kirara perched on her shoulder. And there was InuYash, the InuYasha before the return of Kikyou to their group, the InuYasha that she had loved. His face held a gentle loving smile as he seemed to stare into her eyes.

To the right of them stood her other family. Mom had her arm aroung Souta's shoulders and gramps stood beside them ofuda in hand. All held gentle smiles and loving expressions.

As she gazed at the statue she noticed at the base of the statue the words that were carved into the platform the figures stood on.

"To those who went before us. Until we meet again."

Dropping to her knees Kagome allowed a tear to slide slowly down her cheek and to the ground. "Thank you. May this memorial stand as a testament to what has happened here today and what had happened in the past." Suddenly she heard a noise of to her right. Spinnig swiftly around but still on her knees Kagome rested one hand on Midoriko's hilt. That hand was quickly removed as she realized that the cause of the noise was Shippou. Holding out her arms she motioned for Shippou to come to her. When he crawled into her arms she heard his voice as if from a distance, "Momma what happened? Where is everyone? What happened here?" Kagome could hear his voice grow more and more confused and nervous.

"Ssshhh. Baby its okay, their all gone. But don't worry you still have me and I'll never leave you not even in death. I will always find you, that I promise."

A few moments passed before Shippou spoke again. "Momma, what are these?"

Kagome looked down and noticed what Shippou held. In his tiny palm Shippou held two small perfectly round stones. One was pink with swirls of silver and the other was forest green with swirls of pink. Kagome instantly recognized what they were.

"They are our tears baby. This one," she pointed at the pink gem, "is mine and the other is yours." "Pretty." Shippou whispered his kitsune love for bright things evident in his voice. "I'll tell you what, I'll keep yours and you keep mine, I'll even make them into pendants for us."

Calling on her last bit of power Kagome summoned a small flame up into her palm, using her miko powers she froze the flame so that one could see its dance but no longer feel its burn. Grasping the green gem in her finger tips she thrust the jewel into the center of the flame and formed a unbreakable chain. She then slipped the chian over her head and repeated the process with her ice powers and slipped that pendant over Shippous head.

"Now baby no matter where you go I can always follow and no matter what happens we can always communicate, never take it off."

Kissing his head she cradled his still sleepy form as she fingered the pendant that now hung around his neck. Running her finger over the stone in the middle she vowed that she would get revenge, 'Koenma-sama should know something about this Hiei...maybe I'll go and see him in the morning."

Before Kagome fell into the deepest pits of sleep she promised herself that the tear that Shippou now held would be her last.

End Flashback


	5. Teardrop 5

Disclaimer: If only...if only...

Teardrop Five

As she exited through the portal and into the office of the diminitive ruler the first thing that crossed Kagomes' mind was that the little bastard hadn't changed at all in the past three months. There he was sitting behind his desk still sucking on that fucking ridiculus pacifier and still in that baby guise. The very sight of his smug smile was enough to make her want to puke. Kami how she loathed him.

"Koenmaaaaaaaaaaa," Kagome raged, the tight grip on her emotions starting to slip ever so slightly, "you have got some kind of fucking nerve to send your Kami-damn ferry girl and your detective team to my shrine, not to mention you forced me to hear that name again. Do you remember what I told you would happen if I ever heard that name again after what you told me three months ago?" She purred.

She stalked closer to Koenmas' desk as she spoke and took great satisfaction in seeing the great ruler of Reikai gulp nervously. "Do you recall that I told you I would bring the Reikai to its knees if I ever heard that name again? And I never back down on a promise Koenma, as you are fully aware."

Backing away and raising her hands above her head Kagome began to glow a bright mixture of colors ranging from the bright pink of her miko powers to the flame red and ice blue of her elemental powers. As she looked back over her shoulder at the tiny ruler her smile was frankly dangerous. "Let us see where should we start first? Hmmmm. The record hall perhaps or the vault, no maybe this very room. Boton, since I have always liked you and since I don't know the people that are with you I will allow you to leave if or should I say when I decide to bring this building down around me. All of you that is except my little firefly." Kagome sent a pointed look at Hiei, "His life is mine."

"Well if Hiei stays then I am afraid that I will not be leaving either." Kurama stated in his always calm voice.

"If the kitsune ain't going then neither am I. After all Hiei always shows up and saves our asses when we most need him." This statement came from the ever blunt speaking Yusuke.

Softening ever so slightly Kagome turned her head and faced Boton, "I assume that you feel the same way?"

"Bingo." Boton stated in her cheery voice which sounded horribly out of place in this ever so seriouse situation.

'I was so hoping you guys would think like this.' Koenma thought.

"Just because they are here do not think that they will stop me from giving you the ass beating that you so rightfully deserve." Lowering her arms back down to her sides she smirked once again. "I guess I can let the building stand for the time being."

"Kagome-sama..." Koenma was cut short.

"You will never address me as such again." Her voice was deathly calm and razor sharp. "For you to speak those words is for you to dishonor _his _name and memory. Do you remember what I said would happen to anyone I caught doing either of those two things? Secondly when you address me you will do it standing not behind that annoying desk, and you will do it in your larger form. I have no desire to speak of this matter with a chid."

Sighing Koenma could only mutter, "As you wish." With a puff of blue smoke there stood before them a teenage version of Koenma, pacifier and all.

Koenma started again, "Milady, I had hoped that you would no longer be angry with me for what happened three months ago, but I can see that I was wrong."

"Quite wrong I assure you. How could anyone, even something such as me, forgive the one person that stands in the way of me gaining revenge on the one who slaughtered my family? When I came to you three months ago you told me that while you could not give me this Hiei's life, you would make sure that I never heard the name again, why may I ask have I not only heard the name but am now looking at the face of said person?"

"Hey toddler I thought you said that you hadn't seen her in over a year." Yusuke grumbled clearly pissed with being lied to.

"Wrong again Yusuke, I said that she had not reported to me in over a year. I never said that I had not seen her." Koenma stated smugly.

"Now Kagome I know that you believe Hiei killed your family but I am telling you that there is no way. At the time of your family's death Hiei was on assignment trying to stop the opening of a tunnel into the Makai. There is no possible way that he could have done it."

"I think that you underestimate the members of your little team Koenma. They are each fully capable to cover great distances in short periods of time. Undersetimating has always been your weak point, you do know that don't you?"

"Hiei did you really kill her family? And please my friend do not lie for I fear that our very lives maybe at stake." Kurama cautiously questioned his friend, unable to shake the feeling that this onna, this miko was special to him in someway. He would have to question Youko later.

"There is no maybe to it kitsune. This onna could and would take you all down just for the chance to try and kill me. As if she would succeed." Hiei smirked.

"Do not doubt my power Hiei. Even if you doubt everything else, never doubt the fact that I can and will kill you if I get the chance."

"Hn."

"Hiei please answer me seriously. Did you kill the mikos family?" Kurama persisted.

"Possibly. I can't really say. I've killed so many I can't keep track." was the cocky answer.

"Koenma, a picture on your little screen to jumpstart shortys' memory." Kagome ordered.

"At once."

There before them on the same screen that Koenma had once used to watch his detective team battle the Four Saint Beasts was a picture. An old man held an ofuda, a middle age woman grasped the hands of a young boy and a teenage girl in a sailor fuka.

What caputred Hiei's attention most was the happy expression on the face of the teenage girl. She was beautiful, and indeed looked happy unless one looked below the surface. In the girls eye's you could see sadness, deep sadness. She remined him of Yukina, happy and sweet on the outside yet sad and lonely on the inside.

Kagome stepped forward towards the screen, pointing to each figure in turn, "My grandfather, my mother, and my baby brother Souta. Now tell me Hiei do you remember these faces now? Do you recognize them?"

"The only face I recognize on that screen is yours."

Kagome was shocked. Most people did not make the connection between how she looked now and how she had looked then. Not that she had changed that much, but the pink strips in her hair and the new hardness in her eyes' was enough to fool most into thinking that they were two diffrent people.

"You lie."

"Lieing is beneath me."

"Milady there is one way to know the truth, if Hiei is willing to cooperate." Koenma spoke up timidly.

"Yes but I had hoped to save that for a last resource. I do not relish that procedure. But since I now have no other options we will have to use that. Trust me he will cooperate or I will destroy any and everything that he has ever held dear."

Kagome walked over to where Hiei stood and slowly began to circle him, giving the appearance of a sleak and dangerous jungle cat. Tapping her index finger on her lower lip she began to speculate out loud, "Who would be close enough to you that you would mourn their death. Hmmm. Mother or Father perhap?" Hiei remained emotionless. "No I think not. The kitunes maybe, but no not him either. You would mourn him and probably the detective too but not to the point that I will mourn Souta. Lover? No no lover either I would wager. Brother perhaps or maybe a sister?" Hieis' eyes flashed. "I see I have struck a nerve."

"If you touch one hair on Yukina's head I will kill you slowly."

"So you say. Koenma I want this Yukina brought to me now. If he does not follow my instructions then the girls life is mine."

"Of course milady. Boton you know what to do."

"Now while we wait I have something I would like to ask you." Kagome turned to face Kurama. "Kitsune your name is Kurama I believe." She waited for Kurama to nod that she was correct before continuing. "I would like to speak to you if you would be so kind as to join me outside." Turning Kagome waited for the avatar to follow her outside the doors of Koenmas office before shutting them behind her. "Your aura has intrigued me greatly since I first sensed it. I ask for your premission in examining it. You have no need to fear harm by my hands, I hold no quarrel with you and as such you are safe from me."

Kurama was stunned speechless that this being who was so obviously powerful would consent to asking for his permission in the examination of his aura. As if she had read his mind she responded to his unasked questions.

"I am aware of just how painful it is to have ones soul examined against their will. It is a rape of the worst kind. While a simple testing of an aura is painless, what I am asking is anything but if it is not given williningly. So I ask again, may I have your permission to examin your soul?"

Kurama could not find it in himself to deny her request and as such he nodded his acceptance.

Ever so gently her hands reached out and cupped the air around his face. Her palms just barely brushed his hair as she traced his features. As her hands drifted downwards over his heart he could suddenly feel her deep inside of him, swimming through his thoughts and emotions. He began to fear suddenly as she neared the part of his being where the Youko resided. When she reached the doorway she could just see the shape of a multi-tailed kitsune before it slammed shut in her face. Startled she withdrew her presence from his spirit and stared up at him.

"Miko Kagome?" Kurama questioned softly, slightly disturbed by the way she was gazing at him.

Softly she searched his eyes.

"Kurama. I have a story to tell you."

He was confused but he motioned for her to continue.

"Once upon a time, long long ago, there was a miko who had a small kitsune child. While the boy was not of her blood she loved him as if he were her own. One day while they were out in the woods together, seperated from their traveling companions, she came upon the injured form of another kitsune. Now even though he was badly wounded he was still dangerous. When he saw that the miko had a small kit with her he immediately set out to attack her in order to free the child from his supposed imprisonment. Imagine his suprise when the miko curled her body around the kit in order to protect him from harm. And he was even more amazed to hear a small voice shout for him to leave his mother alone. Now completely confused the kitsune was overcome by his wounds and once again toppled to the ground. The miko once again approached him, speaking softly that she was here to help and that no harm would come to him in her presence. The fallen kitsune questioned her as she tended to him about her reasons for helping him. She simply smiled and asked how could she let him suffer? He was stunned and spoke no more. Later after his wounds were healed he traveled with the miko and her kit. He trained the young onna and her child in the ways of the kitsune, he even helped her to adopt the kit. Then one day when the miko awoke he was gone. Beside her head where she had lain sleeping lay a single rose and a note."

"What did the note say?" Kurama questioned softly.

She seemed disapointed somehow that he had asked that question but she answered none the less.

"It read, "Thank you for teaching me that while a child may be a warrior, and an innocent a killer..."

The words that Koenma had said before came back to Kurama then, "Kitsune can do more than steal, and miko can do more than kill, if given the correct motivation."

The miko heaved an unsteady breath and Kurama was sure that for a moment he smelled oncoming tears before they were gone.

"Youko? Is that you my bandit? Are you my Youko?" Kagome questioned softly.

Kurama was amazed that somehow she knew his other side and yet he was frightened for some reason to explain to her how he came to be the way he was now.

"Yes Kagome, Youko is here, within me. Would you...would you like to speak with him?"

"Yes Kurama I do believe I would."

Kurama nodded to the strange young woman that stood before him. Turning his focus inside of himself he found that Youko was actually asleep and by the looks of it was in the middle of a vivid dream. 'Youko wake up, someone wishes to speak with you.' The kitsune was instantly awake and aware. Turning back to Kagome he signaled to her that his mental demon was aware.

"Its been a long time my Youko."

The sound of that voice was enough to make the kitsune's ears perk up. 'Kurama who is this woman?'

'I am not really sure to tell you the truth. Her name is Kagome and she told me the most unusual story. There is one particular phrase that seems to be most important.'

'What is is?'

'While a child may be a warrior, and an innocent a killer, kitsune can do more than steal, and miko can do more than kill, if given the correct motivation.'

The only warning that the red head had was the startled gasp that escaped his inner youkai before the control over his own body was ripped from his very hands. As he faded to the back of his own mind he was aware of the change that overtook his body.

First his red hair lengthened until it swirled down past his buttocks, then the color changed to that of silver. Not just any silver, but the silver that one would expect the very stars to be carved from. Next his ningen ears dissapeared and were replaced with soft silver kitsune ears that grew from the top of his head. His facial features sharpened and changed from the seductivness of a truely beautiful ningen male, to that of the unreal seductivness of a creature that was only supposed to exist in the deepest fantisies of the women of all three realms. He grew taller and his eyes changed from the forest green that all had become accustomed to, to a piercing amber that reminded Kagome ever so breifly of InuYasha.

But were InuYasha's eyes had held pain and anger, sometimes love, and even towards the end, hatred for Kagome, the now amber eyes of Youko held respect and friendship with a undertone of suprise. If one looked closely and peered into the depths of these eyes they would see what made Youko, Youko. They would see the hints of ruthlessness that made the kitsune one of the most feared apparitions in the Makai, they would notice the traces of love that were aimed at the miko, and you would notice the most imporant thing about Youko. A person would see the less subtle veins of mischief and his love of puzzles and mysterys. Needless to say his kitsune nature shone through in any form he chose to take. The last thing about him that changed was his clothes. The simple black slacks and peach colored shirt that Kurama wore became a pair of silver flowing pants and a lose silver tunic top that was cut to emphazise the width and strength of the kitsunes chest. Needless to say Youko Kurama was a sight to behold.

Stepping forward and wrapping the kitsune in a hug, the young miko showered the love hungry youkai with some much needed physical attention. Kagome was fully aware that kitsune were a race that thrived on physical contact of any kind and without periodical expressions of affection a kitsune would go insaine with grief. The only reason Shippou had survived after the death of his father was that he had found Kagome soon after and she was not averse to showering the kit with as much affection as was needed. Stooping over due to the fact that the woman he held was only a bit taller than Hiei, Youko breathed in her aroma. "You have not changed at all in all these years." He stated with awe. "How is this possible? I haven't seen you in decades."

"There are many things about me and my past that even you do not know my Youko."

"Not for lack of trying on my part, I assure you."

Grasping Kagomes shoulders in his palms he gentely moved her away from him. "Now tell me how is everyone? Are your other companions still alive like you?"

"Sadly Youko my friend, it's just me and Shippou. The others...didn't make it."

"I am sorry, truely I am. But tell me how fairs your kit? I am assuming that the adoption was completely successful since his scent now lingers with your own."

"Yes. Our Shippou fairs well, or as well as can be expected. I am afraid that I do not have time for the whole tale right now but I promise to see you later. Please inform Kurama of our history so that he will not be totaly confused when I come for you."

"Kagome you do not know where we nest, how could you possibly come for us. No we will come to you."

"Youko, Youko, Youko. All ways underestimating me. As I said before many things have changed in my life and my abilities, since you left us."

Youko winced visibly at that statement, the guilt eating at him even after all these years. He had always regreted leaving them behind.

"Please Kagome, you have to realize that what I did I thought was for the best. There is not a day that goes by that I do not wonder what if..." Her finger across his lips cut him off abruptly.

"You have no need to explain yourself to me my Youko. It was for the best that you left when you did. I do not believe that I could stand it if you were to witness what I have become."

"Kagome..." She once again briskly interupted him.

"Now then as I was saying, trust me I can and will find you when the time is right. I fear that since Boton is about to arrive I am unable to continue this conversation so please let Kurama out again we would not like to cause any unneeded confusion about as to why you are in your natural form should any of the others come out here."

Kagome waited until the kitsune had completed his transformation back into his red headed self before turning and reentering Koenmas office where Boton had just appeared, a girl who was apparently the Yukina Hiei had spoken of standing off to her side.

While the two siblings did not share many outward similarities Kagome could instantly tell that the two were related. It was the eyes she supposed. Both beings possessed the same almond shaped peircing crimson eyes. When one looked into Hiei's eyes they felt as if he was peering into their very souls while revealing nothing of his own. When one looked into the eyes Yukina they could practically see the innocence and purity that the girl possessed. But if you looked close enough you could see the true factor that showed the two were related, that inner strength that both possessed. Hiei was strong there is no doubt about that, but this strength went beyond the physical and dived straight into the emotional and mental strength of the person.

Yukina turned to Koenma and asked in that sweet tone that only she possessed, "Koenma-sama you asked to see me, what is it that you require?"

"Yes Yukina I did ask that you be brought here. Now there is someone I want you to meet, Yukina this is the Miko Kagome Higurashi, Miko Kagome this is Yukina."

Yukina bowed before walking to Kagome and after studying her for a moment before she began timidly speaking so low that even Kagome had trouble hearing her, "Though I know it is impossible I would like to ask you a question. Are you by any chance the same Miko Kagome that guards the Shikon no Tama?"

"Why yes that is I. Why do you ask?"

The rest of the room was startled to hear that bit of information. Kurama and Hiei had not heard of the jewel being seen for some five hundred years, and Yusuke had always assumed that it was simply a legend.

"I take it that you do not remember me. It was foolish to assume that you would remember an event that took place so long ago, why I was only a child."

"It is not foolish but please remind me so that maybe I will remember."

"It was a long time ago and you and an inu hanyou had ventured onto Koorime Isle in search of the Shikon shards I believe. I was just a child as I said but you saved me from a pack of snow youkai with one of your arrows."

Kagome began to have flashes of a memory that she had buried, along with many others dealing with the past. A child with blue-green hair and pretty red eyes crying for help in the snow. "Yes I do remember you know. My how you have grown, I am happy to have the chance to see that the child I saved so long ago recieved the opportunity to live to grow into a beautiful young onna."

Yukina blushed at the compliment while Hiei stood stunned. This young onna had actually saved his little sister when she was a child! That was decades ago, just how old was this miko? He was also not pleased to learn that he owed the life of his sister to this woman. She had saved Yukina before Hiei himself had even been around.

He loathed being indebted to anyone, especially where it concerned his sister.

As Kagome talked with Yukina briefly about how things in her life had been going, she used the time to peer into the girls mind and scan her memories. After a moment she realized that while Yukina was aware of the fact that she had a brother, she was unaware of the fact that Hiei was him. Kagome was puzzeled as to why Hiei would not tell his sister that the brother she so longed for was in truth right in front of her. It just seemed wrong to her. After giving the situation some thought, she decided to use it to her advantage.

"Yukina I have much that I wish to discuss with you but I am afraid that it will have to wait. I have a much more pressing matter to deal with at the time and I am afraid that your friend Hiei must accompany me. I do however, offer you an open invitation to visit me at my shrine. Just come see me whenever you have the urge or need to, no matter the day or time. You will normally find me there, and if I am not at home feel free to wait for as long as you like." Turning to Boton, Kagome asked the bubbly diety of death to open a portal to her shrine. When Boton fulfilled her request she motioned for Hiei to follow her.

"Coming firefly, or am I going to have to...?" She let her question trail off at the end, knowing that he would understand her true message: 'Follow me or take the risk of your sisters life being placed forever in my hands.'

"Hn." That was the only reply that she recieved, but it was noted that Hiei fell into step with her quite quickly.

Kurama and Yusuke both stepped forward as if to follow them into the portal, but their idea was quickly shot down by Hiei.

"We do this alone or we don't do this at all." Turning he disappeared into the portal leaving the office in an uproar.

As Yusuke continued to yell questions at Koenm after the two had disappeared, the tiny ruler could only hope that the miko and the apparition would be able to overcome their diffrences and be able to get along without killing each other. A lot would depend on them in the future, and they needed to unite if they wanted to survive.

HIGURASHI SHRINE: WITH HIEI AND KAGOME

As they stepped back out of the portal and onto the now cleared out shrine grounds the first thing that Hiei noticed was the tree. Tall and stately, the tree was massive with sprawling branches and gently swaying leaves. At first sight anyone with spiritual awareness would be able to tell that this tree was not ordinary. It seemed to radiate calm and well being, while the swaying of the branches and trees seemed to form a melody that sang of peace and safety. The tree called out to him reassuring and almost fatherly in its attempt to put Hiei at easy and assure him that within its branches he would always be safe.

'Safe.' Hiei mused. There was no such thing as true safety, he had learned that lesson long ago. No, in his world it truely was kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, and Hiei would be damned if he was going to end up as someone elses lunch. In his world you were only safe if you could kill any and everything that would ever want to come after you until there was nothing left. He was close to being safe from most things, but he was no fool. Hiei knew that there were youkai out there that not even he wanted to fuck with yet, but the time was coming when he would not have to worry about being defeated in battle.

Kagome, realizing that Hiei was no longer following her, turned and spotted him standing in front of the sacred tree with a look of peace on his face. She recognized that look as the same one she had caught herself wearing time to time when being in the mere presence of the tree.

Walking to his side she stood there for a moment before she spoke. "This is the Goshinboku or sacred tree. It is a holy and powerful spirit of the old world that has guarded this land even before my family's shrine was built here. I have always gained a sense of peace while stnading under this tree, especially since..." She broke off abruptly when she realized what she was about to say, 'since I lost them.'

Shaking her head at herself, she was angry that she had started to open up to him of all people, the bastard that killed her Souta. Turning she once again began to walk back up to her house, motioning for him to follow.

Even though he hated to admit it Hiei was extremely curious as to what the onna had been about to say before she seemed to catch herself. He then procceded to become pissed off at himself for even caring what a simple ningen onna thought or said. But he couldn't help but wonder what had put that brief flash of sorrow in her eyes that had stayed for but a moment, when it was suddenly covered by the emotionless mask that reminded him of the one that he had worn for so long.

Turning he followed her up to the house and waited impatiently at the front door. When they stepped into the house the first thing that Hiei noticed was the smell. Instead of the normal smell that occupied the homes of other ningen, this house was suprisingly lacking in the stench of sweat, dirt, and decay that came with the constantly dieing cells of the ningen body. Instead there was a heavy covering of the smell of honey and fire that Hiei recognized as the onna sweet aroma. Then as he inhailed he caught the scent of something strange and yet familiar. Startled he inhailed deeply but the scent would not leave. There was the smell of roses, it was achingly familiar. The scent reminded him of Kurama and his smell that he gave off. There however was a major diffrence just below the surface. Along with the honey and fire smells, he sented a hint of pine also mixed within the sent. There was no mistaking it, there was a kitsune living in this house. A male kitsune.

He was enraged and yet he didn't know why.

The mere thought that someone had claimed this onna was driving him insaine. Hiei could practically feel his youki fighting to get out and he knew that if he looked in the mirror he would see his already crimson eyes starting to bleed completely red.

This to say the least, was not good.

One of the worse points of being a forbidden child was that your body was at constant war with itself, each of the opposing elements that made up Hiei were constantly trying to destroy each other. He knew that unless he got his blood back under control bad things were going to happen. Stepping further into the house Hiei knew that he had to do somehting to get his mind off of the current situation. With that thought in mind he inhaled deeply once again and was once again bombarded by the smell of kitsune. Before his blood could go haywire he quickly broke down and analyzed the scent, searching through it to discover every secret it could give him.

The smell told him that the kitsune was in fact a kit, young not more than ten or eleven winters old, a mere babe in youkai standards. The onna's scent was mixed completely with the kit's own there was no denying that, and yet it seemed to be in a mother-son way. Hiei was baffled. Now that he had broken down the smells of the home the purity of the onna was so obviouse that he was suprised it had not knocked him on his ass at the shrine beforehand. There was no way the bitch could have any children, hell he was willing to bet that she had never been touched by a man before muchless given birth. Purity practically radiated off of her in waves, it was glaringly obvious that she was a virgin. The smell of her pureness was enough to make his youkai go insaine in desire. It roared and wanted to claim her. It wanted nothing more than to taint her scent with their own, to posses her and make her theirs own. It would not get its way. Hiei refused to mate a ningen, especially one that wanted his life. He had no desire to watch for a knife in his back courtesy of his mate if he ever decided to take one.

To make matters worse the Dragon and the Jagan were both intrested in her too. That disturbed him greatly. He hated, no hated wasn't even a strong enough word, he loathed all of the emotions that he had been forced to experince since he had join the Detective and his team. Since he had met Yusuke and Kuwabara he wasn't sure that he hated all ningen anymore, even though he had honestly hated Kuwabara in the begining, and he had only calmed down to extremely dislike towards the end.

Shaking his head he decided the best way to calm himself would be to distract himself completely from the smells and focus on something else. Turning he growled at Kagome, "Onna what is this procedure?"

"You'll find out when we get to my room."

'Her room?' Hiei thought, 'Why would this onna take me to her room for this procedure?'

"Since my room is closer to the Goshinboku, the calming energies from the tree will reach into the house and will help the procedure to run much smoother."

Hiei was pissed. He had not realized that he had dropped his barriers low enough that once again a mere ningen was able to invade his thoughts.

"You did not drop them that low. I am not and will never be again a normal ningen. I far surpass any power any human could ever hope to achieve."

"Bitch get the fuck out of my head!"

Kagome turned slightly to look at Hiei from over her shoulder, her glance cold enough to freeze a lava pit straight from the seventh layer of Hell. "If you do not desire a quick and not so painless death on this night, I suggest that you never call me 'Bitch' again. I have a name and it's Kagome. KA-GO-ME. You will use it or you will not address me at all."

'How dare she speak to me that way! That bitch will pay! After this is over and done with I will slit her open from navel to nose!'

Glancing back once again Kagome smirked at the enraged fire apparition and said only two words, "Try it." With that she walked further into the house and up the stairs opening the door to where Hiei assumed her room was. Stepping inside she motioned for Hiei to follow, which he reluctantly did.

The first thing that Hiei noticed when he stepped into the room was once again the smell. Had he thought the downstairs rooms smelled of her? This room was saturated with her scent and that of the kitsune. When he managd to rip his mind away from how she smelled he noticed that she was sitting on the edge of her bed and was motioning for him to join her.

"This technique is called the Spirit Scan, it is a procedure that I developed along with one of my former sensei. This will allow me to enter into your mind and you into mine, and we will be able to walk freely through the others mind without causing harm. While in my mind you will have a corpreal form and you will appear there as you are now, as I will appear in yours. You may also meet certain...beings while in my mind so I suggest you keep your hands off that katanna. If you attack in my mind you will be purified from the inside out starting with your very soul. That I must warn you is not a pleasent experience to have."

"Why do you hate this technique so much, it seems to be formidable?" In fact this technique reminded him greatly of the Spirit Wave that he had witnessed Genkai use in the Dark Tournament a few years back.

"This technique can be used as an attack, but when it is used in this form there will be a unbreakable connection formed between the parties. And when I say unbreakable, I mean unbreakable, the bond cannot be destroyed except maybe in death, and even then the two would probably meet again in the next life in some way."

Hiei didn't like this statement either. Come to think of it there were a lot of things that Hiei had started to hate more than normal today. The thought that he, Hiei, would be forever connected to some ningen bitch was utterly...disturbing. But at this point he really didn't have much of a choice, now did he?

"Fine. Let us do this so that I may be free of your anoying presence."

"Likewise I assure you. Now lay down on the bed."

"Why?"

"This will require an act of submission from both parties, and since we are of the opposite sex it will have to be in a fashion that possible mates would take. In other words, this will involve touching on my part and on yours."

Hiei relunctantly laid back and prepared to allow this onna to molest his person all the while trying to ignore the voice in the back of his head that said that it wasn't that bad of an idea. Kagome's mind was occupied with similar thoughts, but hers mainly focused on the width of his shoulders and his smooth tanned skin. She immediately slapped herself (mentally) for lusting after the cold-blooded monster that had massacred her family. Shaking her head and ridding her mind of her betraying thoughts, she pulled herself up onto her knees and straddled Hiei's hard yet comfy stomach.

Leaning forward she gently placed her mouth on the underside of his jaw and nipped his skin. Opening her mouth Kagome started to suck lightly on his exposed skin knowing that she would leave a faint mark but that it was neccesary for the procedure to advance properly. After about a minute of this Kagome realized that sucking on his neck was not really neccessary any longer considering he would probably have a very large hicky at the end of the day already, though with his youkai healing it would already be gone by the time this was over. She sat up and rached back grabbing her long hair and pulling it to the side, she exposed her neck to the waiting youkai and waited for him to return the favor. She then placed her right hand palm down directly over his heart and Hiei could feel the energy that circulated right below the skin.

"You try anything and I will purify your ass out of existance."

"Hn. As if I would stoop so low."

Hiei could not believe how much he had enjoyed the onna sucking on his skin, his neck even. The most vital point of his body that noone was ever allowed to touch and he had allowed a ningen onna to place her mouth on it. Not only that he had enjoyed it even! What in the Fuck was wrong with him! he couldn't help imagine then in another situation with her lips on his body, such as her naked and withering underneath him moaning, no screaming his name. Roughly he shook those thoughts into the back of his mind with the reminder that she was a dirty ningen no matter how wonderful she smelled. He was not above using this situation to gain a little revenge. He would make her extremely uncomfortable and even though she was currently on top he would show her who the domanite one in this relationship would be, not that they had a relationship in the first place.

Reaching up he wrapped his fist in her knee-length hair and pulled her down to him, not gently and yet not roughly either. He jerkered her head to one side and leaning up on one elbow he placed his mouth on the juncture of where her shoulder and neck met. The place he would have left his mark, his brand if he was so inclined. Doing the same as Kagome had done he sucked on her skin but added an even harsher nip to her neck. He knew without a doubt that she would bare a mark much larger than the one she had given him. As he kissed her neck the fight to keep the Jagan from controling him and the Dragon from making an appearance became increasingly hard. Both were trying to force him to mark her and that was something that he would not do. Even with those thoughts he could not resist a better taste before he pulled away. Opening his mouth even more he flicked out his tounge and ran it along the length of her jaw line before he withdrew and layed back down on the bed.

Kagome had a hard time with-holding her moans as the fire apparition ran his tounge along her skin. She had never felt anything like the sensations that ran through her when Hiei touched her skin. Not even the times that InuYasha had held her in the past had she felt anything like this. She could not even describe the situation accurately, the closest she could come to the feeling was the time that she had caught a cold while in the Fuedal Era and InuYasha had made his medicine for her. It was like a fever that raged out of control and was trying to consume her whole, but she refused to allow it to take her down.

Bracing herself she prepared to begin the procedure that she had never really wanted to perform on another. She focused her energy on the task at hand, and prayed that this would go as planned. She knew that even with all of her immpressive strength and energy that the Spirit Scan would leave her drained and vulnerable. Her sensei that had helped her to perfect this technique had often warned her that to be truely strong she had to know her on limitations, and she had taken those words to heart. Long ago after she had completed her training with Midoriko, the ancient miko had told her that she needed to find a sensei in her own time that could teach her the things she could not. Kagome had later found a pshycic of the old world who was willing to teach her how to harvest her spirit energy and help her to use it. Together they had created this technique that utilized everything that was miko and pure of heart.

She gathered her energy and with one last prayer to the Kami, she focused all that she had and threw herself forcefully into the abyss that was Hiei's mind, and at the same time drew him into her own.

The last thing that Hiei saw before his eyes lost focus was Kagome surrounded in a glowing aura of bright pink light and the shape of her body as she fell forwrd and collapsed across his chest. His last thought was how much he really enjoyed having her body this close to him.

AN: And I bring to you the end of another chapter. I hope that you like it as much as I enjoyed writting it. Review.


	6. Teardrop 6

Disclaimer: If only...if only...

Teradrop Six

AT THE OFFICE.

Yusuke was for lack of a better word livid.

First Koenma sends them out on some strange mission and then it turns out that the chick they were assigned to find knew Hiei somehow. And then after taking her to the toddlers office she freaks the fuck out and demands Hiei's life for the deaths of her family supposedly killed by said chibi youkai. All he could think was "What the Fuck!" And Yusuke being Yusuke that was exactly what he said.

"Koenma what the fuck is going on? First you send us after this chick without so much as a picture to go on and then she comes here demanding Hiei's life and everything is all rainbows and sunshine!"

"Yes. I am quite curious as to what your answer is myself." The ever gentle and calm voice of the avatar made itself known.

Koenma once again in his child form eyed the two team mates trying to gauge exactly how much he could tell without giving away everything.

"There are things in the three worlds that not even I or my father would dare to stop, fate being one of them."

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means Yusuke that I am not able to stop what has happened and what will happen even if I wanted to."

"Koenma-sama what exactly was she talking about dealing with Hiei and the deaths of her family?" Questioned the ever curious kitsune.

"Three months ago at the completion of her mission she arrived home and discovered that her entire family including her baby brother had been killed. And not just killed but tortured and maimed, her mother and grandfathers bodies were hardly recognizable. I do believe that the death of her brother is what hit her the most. Through certain...means she was lead to believe that Hiei had been the one to kill her kin and she came to my office demanding information on him. After a very long...squabble shall we say I conveinced her that due to certain plans that the fates had for him, Hiei could not be killed now. We agreed that she would not kill or hunt him for the time being, but she informed me and Boton that if she ever heard his name again that she would come here and claim his life the fates be damned."

"So by sending us to that shrine to find her you knew what would happen when she heard his name! You KNEW and you still sent us." Yusuke was enraged with the ruler, stalking over to the desk and grasping his collar he lifted him straight up into the air.

"Listen to me you bastard, I refuse to lose another member of this team and another friend on one of your missions just because you refuse to give us all of the information. If Hiei dosen't come back alive I will kill you and nothing will stop me. King Enma be damned, there will be nowhere you can run where you will be safe from me." Yusuke's eyes took on a red shine. "Enma and his SDF could not stop me before so do not think that they can stop me now. You had better pray he comes back alive or you will not live to see the next sunrise."

"Yusuke kindly put Koenma down he is turning blue."

Yusuke dropped the princeling in favor of rounding on Kurama. "Kurama what is wrong with you! How can you be so calm about all of this aren't you supposed to be Hiei's best friend? And what did that bitch want with you anyways?"

Kurama's eyes flashed gold quickly before settling back into thier customary green, but if you looked closely you could see the golden flecks in them signaling to all who knew the avatar that Youko was wide awake and close to the surface. A low growl escaped Kurama's throat startling all the rooms occupants. "Yusuke, Youko advises you not to speak about Lady Kagome in such a manner if you wish to retain possession of your voicebox."

"But Kurama aren't you even worried about Hiei at all?"

"Yes Yusuke I am very worried but I have faith that Hiei can handle himself in just about every situation, even this one."

"But what if he can't Kurama? What if he needs us and we aren't there for him just like we weren't there for..."

There was no need for the detective to finish his statement. Everyone knew by the grief that darkened his eyes who he was talking about.

Kuwabara.

"I know Yusuke, trust me I know, but I am afraid all we can do is stay here and wait and see what it is that the fates have in store for our friend and pray it is not death. You never know though Yusuke things are not always how they seem."

THE SAME TIME IN THE HIGURASHI SHRINE

On the bed in the room of one Kagome Higurashi, heroine of the past, protectress of the present, preserver of the future, and miko of the Shikon no Tama, there lay two still figures lock in what would seem to an outside observer as a lovers' embrace. The female lay on top of the male her arms wrapped tightly around his neck seemingly in fear that he would disappear, her head tucked underneath his chin. The male lay still as death barely breathing almost in fear of disturbing his partner, a look of utter peace on his unsmiling face. His arms wrapped around her waist and his nose buried deeply in her hair the small youkai was relaxed. That quickly changed as his partner roled slightly and slipped off of him curling into a ball at his side.

Disturbed by the lose of warmth the fire hybrid rolled onto his side facing the woman and slung one bandaged arm around her waist drawing her back to his front and once again buring his nose in her hair. A sigh escaped him softly, a sigh that would have never been uttered had he been aware of his actions.

One would never have guessed that beneath the peaceful exteriors of the beds two occupants secrets were being revealed, souls bared, desires unearthed, beliefs shattered and lifes changed forever. And while the three worlds went about their daily routines of life and death unaware, they would all know soon that things would never be the same.

INSIDE KAGOME'S MIND

The first thing that Hiei noticed he came to was the silence. When he opened his eyes all he saw was darkness. Now Hiei had ventured into many minds in his life, some belonging to humans and others to the most depraved youkai you could imagine, and yet never in all of his time had he come across a mind so blank. This onnas mind was like a blank canvas. In every mind there was at least some kind of activity, a spark or a ripple, something. Here there was absoulutly nothing.

"That Hiei is because you are not in the active area of Kagome's mind at all. I stopped you before you could fully enter her memories in order to speak with you. Now come, we have many things to discuss and only a limited amount of time to discuss it in."

Hiei spun around quickly searching in all directions for the origin of the voice. It was a womans voice there was no doubt about that. It radiated power, old power. The kind that came with decades of training, the kind that Genkai possessed, and yet the voice was not old or scratchy like the old psychics. Instead it held youth and beauty and yet a sadness older than time as if the possesser had seen many things that they had not wished to.

Then without warning there was the sensation of being pulled forth that centered around his navel as if the universe was being pulled from around him or he was being dragged through time and space itself. He could hear the woosh of wind as it flew past his face and could feel the squeeze of time and space as his body was constricted and suddenly he found it hard to breath. Then as quickly as it had all started it stopped.

Just like that.

Hiei opened his eyes and was amazed at what he saw. He stood in a clearing in the woods. It was perfect in every way. Surrounded by towering trees the clearing was carpeted in soft grass the perfect shade of green and a random sprinkling of wild flowers. Looking around he noticed some odd things about the clearing.

First was the amount of detail that was put into the setting. In someones mind things were never this clear. Usually everything was foggy and blurred and only the extremely important memories were clear and they were never this clear. The detail was amazing, everything was so life like, there was even a slight breeze blowing through the clearing.

The second thing that struck his intrest was the sky. It was a haunting blue that comes with the closing of the day and yet it was still bright outside. He could feel, actually feel the sunshine on his exposed skin and face and yet he could not find the sun anywhere in the sky. One thing he could see though where the large black thunderheads that were making their way into the clearing. Even as he watched he could see their progress across the sky, they moved slowly but they moved without stopping. For some strange reason they gave him the vauge feeling of unease.

But besides the detail in the setting and the approaching thunderstorm the thing that captured his attention the most had to be the well. The well was plain enough made simply out of wood and yet as he approached it he could not shake the feeling that there was more to it than there seemed.

"That's right my little Koorime. There is much more to this well than there seems. This is called the Bone Eater's well. Many years ago it was used to dispose of the bones of dead demons and then it had...other...uses. But that story I am afraid is for another time and is not for me to tell." There was a weary sigh in the air around Hiei and he breifly heard the flutter of invisible clothing when suddenly the voice spoke to him again. "Now Hiei I must ask you to finish the next leg of your journey on your own. I am afraid that I have exerted more energy than I wished to at the moment and must regain some of my strength before I finish this conversation with you."

Hiei was quickly becoming angered though none of his emotions were clear on his face. This...this fucking onna was daring to order him around as if she was his master! How DARE she presume to give him orders. The bitch's warning be damned he would make that voice feel agony if he ever found its body.

She could feel the rage radiating off of his body and did not hesitate to say something to him. "Youkai, you will calm yourself unless you wish to be purified. Your anger is doing you no good here. You have not been ordered simply asked to continue on to the next location by yourself. If you wish to have your questions answered I suggest you meet me by the Tree of Ages as quickly as possible. I will be there waiting for you with answers. The Goshinboku is the tallest tree in the forest it should not be hard for one of your capabilities to find in a short period of time. I advise that you hurry."

With those last parting words Hiei could feel the presence of the onna or whatever it was disappear as he turned to look in the direction of the largest tree. For some strange reason something told him that his simple life would never be the same after this day, and for some reason that he could not fanthom that thought did not upset him as much as he had thought it would.

Strengthening his resolve he set forward into the woods determined to get the answers to the questions that he was not even sure he wanted to ask.

WITH KAGOME IN HIEI'S MIND

The first thing that registered with Kagome when she opened her eyes was that the sky was a pretty pink color and the air around her and the ground beneath her was cold. The cold itself didn't affect Kagome much anymore. While she could feel that the temperature was low and was still dropping the cold did not directly affect Kagome like it used to, as a matter of fact neither did the heat. One of the numerous advantages of being...whatever the hell it was that she well, was.

Still couldn't figure that one out.

It was strange really not ever knowing what you where. Sometimes she would wake up at night with one of those after hours epiphanys that only come to the truely sleep deprived right after they finally slip into sweet slumber, and realize that she had no clue really what she was.

She didn't even know if she was human any more.

She particularly remembered one occasion when she had caught a villager in one of the towns they had passed through picking on Shippou and calling him a filthy youkai and telling him that he deserved to die. The small kitsune had been in tears when Kagome had finally found him huddled by the mans feet curled into a ball by a swiftly delivered kick. She had been enraged. The only thoughts circling through her head had been that this _ningen_ had hurt her kit and any threat to her young was not allowed to live.

Shippou's scream of fear had quickly alerted the others who had arrived only to be rendered speachless at the sight of their Kagome holding a two hunred pound village man off of the ground by his neck snarling in his face and baring her _fangs_ at him as she procceded to lecture him on the respect that was to be shown to all children of all races by him from now on.

Within the time it had taken them to blink the man had been thrown through a wall and Kagome had a sniffling Shippou held in her arms licking his face and drying his tears in a manner disturbingly similar to that of a mother kitsune.

The rest of the day she had cuddled the small kit and loved on him, she had even growled at InuYasha when he had commited that she was spoiling the 'stupid little rat' and had attempted to bop Shippou on the head. The broken bones in his hand had not healed until late the next day they were so shattered, the burn mark from her miko energy had not healed completely for two.

Sango had comminted that she had never seen her look so feral or demonic, Miroku had said she had never looked sexier, Shippou had simply said that he had never felt safer, while InuYash had sulked and muttered bitch under his breath while nursing his battered limb.

Kagome shook off the thought of better times in favor of focusing on the here and now.

She slowly stood and looked around her and was amazed at what she saw. Instead of simply being inside Hiei's memory banks like she had expected to be she was in some sort of winter wonderland. It looked like the entire place was made out of ice even the huts. Looking around she made a startling discovery. Not only was this place a island of ice it was a floating island of ice.

FUCK!

She never had been too good with hieghts.

Shaking off the feelings of impending doom that allways followed when she was up high Kagome obsevered her suroundings like she had been taught. She recognized the place as the Koorime isle that she had once visited, the same one that Yukina originated from. The place was beautiful there was no doubt about that but it was so cold. And she didn't mean just temperature wise. She distinctly remembered the inhabitants of the ice isle. They were for the most part cold-hearted, frigid bitches.

She had got along with only one of them after the first ten minutes of being in the village, her name ws Rui if she remembered. There had been and unusual saddness to that woman that had drawn Kagome to her. But for the most part she couldn't stand them.

Then suddenly out of no where there were two huge blasts of youkai energy that were coming from somewhere behind her. Turning Kagome viewed her options. She could either stay here and search the village, but she could feel no life in it, or she could track down the two auras that were behind her and beat her answers out of them.

Now maybe she had spent far too much time around youkai or she was finally taking her long awaited trip down insaity avenue, but the second option was sounding pretty damn good right now.

Smirking to herself Kagome set off determined that she would finally get her answers. But as determined as our young miko was she could not ignore the fact that her powers were slowly weakening as she went. She could only hope that she could hold out long enough for her to finish this once and for all.

BACK WITH HIEI

After only about a minute of running half speed did Hiei reach the tree. He realized that his first suspesion was correct, this was the same tree that was outside the onna's house except that the energy was diffrent. The tree felt much much younger. While the energy still felt like ancient plant energy it felt much younger than it did at the onna's house.

Glancing around Hiei noticed that he was alone and for once could not resist temptation. Striding forward he placed his palm flat against the trees trunk directly over the scar in the bark. Instantly as his skin touched the bark he felt something reach for and connect with the Jagan. Suddenly there were emotions, so many emotions. More than he had ever felt in his entire existance.

Sadness, despair, lonelyness, longing, pity, hatred, fear, anger, grief, pain, small doses of happiness, and love.

So much pain and love, connected and intertwined. Not the love of pain but instead the pain of love. It was almost as if they had caused each other.

What suprised him the most was not the hatred or the pity because he had expected to find both, after all all humans did was pity themselves and hate others right, instead it was the directions these two emotions were sent in that startled Hiei. All of the pity that he was feeling was focused outward without an ounce to spare for the possesser. All of that pity was deeply intertwined with either love, empathy, or more compassion than Hiei had ever seen in one place in his lifetime.

It was strange really to be inside the mind of a being that did not possess a single shred of self-pity. Everyone he had ever met had pitied themselves at one time or another. Hell even the Youko tended to pity himself, true it was normally the kitsune bitching about the lack of sexual activity that he had been invloved in with his new counterpart, but still it was self-pity none the less.

The next wave of emotion was one that Hiei himself was quite familiar with. That bitter tang of hatred that hung in the air around a place years after the source had left. It tends to leave a bitter after taste, a sort of bite in the back of ones mouth after you had been exposed to it. As the wave crested bringing the full force of the emotion onto Hiei he barely managed to stay on his feet, almost driven to his knees by the force of the emotions.

Yes he was quite familiar with hate if Hiei did say so himself. Hiei had hated many things in his life time, and when Hiei did something he did it to the best of his ability, hating something was no exception. Yes he had hated many, the Koorime that had abandoned him at birth, Tougoro, Koenma, himself, hell he had even hated Yusuke for a short amount of time when they had first met (still did sometimes to tell the truth), and many others along the way. And yet he had never hated anything to this extent. Plus there was something diffrent about this hate, it was even more bitter than normal and had a large twinge of sadness mixed into it too.

And then suddenly as if someone had just flipped the universal lightbulb Hiei could name the emotion.

Self-Hatred, and tons of it too.

More than he had ever seen or felt.

All of this intense emotion was directed right at the one who produced it. Suddenly Hiei had a disturbing thought, maybe him and this onna were not so diffrent after all. He too had once had a intense hatred for himself. While it was not completely gone it still was not anywhere near as strong as it had been before Kurama had shown him that he did have some worth even if it was only to the team. Maybe noone had ever told this girl just how important she was to them, maybe she had noone just like he had had noone. He still carried the scars from when he had attempted to end his own life in a fit of depression. They had been so deep that not even his youkai healing abilities had been able to completely heal them. Had Kurama not found him when he had Hiei knew that he would not still be among the living. He vaguely wondered if the onna too carried any similar scars.

"More than you could even imagine on one of her age. This is what she feels day in and day out, even in sleep she does not find solice. Her dreams are nightmares of the darkest degree and her every waking moment is filled with what ifs and if onlys. She feels the hatred, the lonelyness, and most of all the emptyness inside of her." Hiei still could not see the being that spoke with him but he had the feeling as if she were right beside him. "I am sure that you have noticed it by now haven't you Hiei. The encrouching darkness, the ever present, ever growing storm cloud just over the horizon that never seems to dissapate. How could you not noticed when presented with something so broken and shattered that it is almost impossible to ignore, though many have already done so."

"After a lifetime of being whole she was shattered in an instant and then destroyed over years. In the begining it was only a small twinge after the first shock of being torn in two, but then it started to grow. It spread faster, grew stronger and began to draw her in. What makes it truely horrible is that the whole time she could have fixed the problem, rewoven the shredded fibers of her soul and been whole again if only it wasn't for _them_."

"Could you imagine feeling the empty growing and drawing you in and all the while knowing that you were losing your very soul? Could you handle knowing that even though you have the means and the capabilities to fix the problem, that you have the opportunity to be whole again, that you will not take it? That you refuse to take it? Could you possibley live with the knowledge that to be whole again all you would need to do was end one single life and your suffering would end, that all you had to do was end one life that was long since over, and refusing time and time again to fire the arrow that would free yourself from the pain."

"It is beyond unbareable Hiei and it only gets worse for I still have much to tell you and show you so that you will not judge her unfairly. I still have many more questions for you, ones that require only one answer."

"Now imagine falling in love towards the begining of all of this. Then realizing that you would do anything to see that one person happy even if it meant letting your own soul be rippped apart and scattered even farther apart, or even stolen. Letting all of this happen just so they could be happy even if it wasn't with you. Then imagine later realizing that they were not even your friend, that they held no love what-so-ever for you, that they would never love you in even the smallest sense. Learning later that they were even waiting on your death, praying that you would be killed in an attack or die in your sleep. And the whole while you knew that they wanted you dead and you wanted to kill yourself for them so that maybe then they would see you as you and not a copy, but knowing that you will not because even after all of that you had promised that you would not leave them alone and that you would always stay with them no matter what. Not moving on because even after all of the torture both physical and mental you still loved them inspite of what they had done to you. And tell me this, could you still after all of this be cheerful and act happy, always have a smile on and never act sad just to keep the only ones that you had alive, happy and sheltered now as you had been unable to keep others in the past."

"Tell me Hiei would you still want to live after that?"

"Hn. If the bitch is so eager for death then why has she not killed herself and spared the worlds her presence?"

"Oh Hiei there is much that you do not know about her but I am sure that you will learn in time."

"Enough games. Witch you speak in circles, always saying they or them never a name. You will give me straight answers or you will regret it!"

The woman sighed once again, ignoring his words and the threat within them. "Still so much to learn. Well no time like the present."

Suddenly that tugging feeling was back again and Hiei knew that he was in for a change of scenery, hell he was almost anticipating it. This time when he opened his eyes he saw that he was in somekind of cavern. All around him where old rock formations, staligmites and staligtites that were hundreds of years old. The cave was amazing and radiated a sense of peace and welcome to Hiei that he had rarely experienced anywhere. It was then that he noticed that the rock formations were not really rock formations after all, they appeared to be part of one giant youkai and yet it was made up of many diffrent beasts at the same time.

It was a abomination.

Hiei noticed something special about the largest stalagmite in the very center of the cave. It took on the form of a beautiful woman in old miko robes and armor held in the jaws of a massive youkai. She had a fist size hole through her chest where her heart would have been.

"The reason why I am unable to appear to you in my true form is simply because my body never really died. My body is still in this cave trapped in suspended animation for all times. This is only a memory, her memory of what my cave looked like when she first saw it. It was once pure and peaceful, the air was clean and the aura relaxing, but times change. This cave has changed. Midoriko's cave they called it. This cavern reflects the inner feeling and thoughts of the one who posseses my jewel. With the first guardian it was pure but cold and unfeeling and yet a selfish air flowed through the walls at the same time. And then later after she arrived it was pure and clean, untainted but most of all welcoming. The barrier was open to all, youkai, hanyou, and ningen alike. Any who wished to pay tribute to my statue or to simply feel the loving embrace of a mother came here. But as I have said things change and not always for the better."

Hiei was sure that if this Midoriko had a body she would be rubbing her temples in exhastion as he had seen Yusuke do time and time again.

"The atmosphere slowly changed as darker, sadder emotions wormed their way inside. And finally it is like this."

That fucking pulling sensation was back and then suddenly as if a spell had been lifted the entire atmosphere of the cave changed.

What had once been clean air was now dusty and reeked with pain. The air teemed with sadness, so much so that the walls themselves seemed to be crying out in pain. The floor was dusty and molding, the statues crumbling and there was barely any light to be had. And yet throughout it all Midoriko's body remained clean and unscathed almost as if what ever had caused the destruction was afraid to touch her body.

Then he saw her.

The small fragile body of a woman. Naked her only covering was her hair, long glorious black hair, hair with two pink stripes, hair that Hiei recognized. She was bloody and beaten with the look of one who had been severly whipped. Cuts and scrapes seeped blood freely and seemed to fester in the damp cave. And through it all she shook with silent sobs, almost afraid to make a sound.

Kagome.

"This Hiei is the heart of the miko of the Shikon no Tama, the purest creature in the history of all creation, even purer than myself. Beaten and broken, bloody and bleeding more, she tries to hide it hear in the cave that houses my body. She tries despretly to shelter it here amongst the rocks and moss and yet even as we speak the walls are crumbling. This cave is the simplest reflection of her soul. Once these walls were clean and the air was pure and sweet to breathe, but now this cave is dark and every breath is painful. The walls are crumbling in on themselves and I fear that soon it shall completley cave in and seal shut."

"Her very soul is dieing Hiei, and I fear that if something is not done soon then she will be lost to all three worlds."

"Hn."

"I have existed for a long, long time Hiei, longer than I had ever wanted to. I am older even than you. I have seen things that I wish had never happened, done things that I wish I had never had to do. And yet out of all the scars on my soul, out of all the memories that plague my mind the destruction of this soul weighs on me the most. Out of all of the lives that I have taken, first as a miko and then as part of the Shikon no Tama this soul and its destruction will haunt me for all eternaty. This is my fault no matter what she says on the contrary the destruction that the jewel has caused has been entirely my own fault."

"She and she alone has the ability to keep the jewel pure and to make the wish that will eventually set my soul free. There is one stipulation though, the wish must be pure and made by the pure of heart. I have only once been presented with a pure wish, and I would gladly spend the rest of eternaty in my prison than grant that wish. Why or how that girl thinks that way I will never really know, she should have known better than to believe him."

"I have a request for you Hiei. I simply ask that you watch over Kagome for me and try and prevent the empty from over taking her. I do not even know that she would be whole if she were to merge with the Shikon no Tama once again. I sincerely doubt it. Even my soul compares to nothing next to the massive size of her own. Now I know that you have more questions that you would actually like to ask and I assure you that they will be answered, just not now. This "procedure" does not normally go this way but I saw fit to enterfear."

"Our time grows short Hiei but there are still two very important facts that I would have you know. One she would never hurt Yukina like that, she is too pure. Two, when you return to your body and after she has told her story I want you to ask her why she really stayed all those times. The answer will reveal a lot about her. Now I am afraid that I must go, but I will be seeing you again little Koorime."

Hiei felt what would be equivilant to a gentle shove on his chest and he felt as if he were falling backwards. Back into the world, back into his body, and back into his own mind. In those moments he could not help but admire the ningen that carried such a broken soul.

IN HIEI'S MIND AT THE SAME TIME THIS WAS HAPPENING

Kagome was getting sick and tired of this.

Every time that she came even remotely close to the location of the energy signals they would suddenly disappear only to reappear somewhere behind her. She felt like she was playing some kind of annoying game of hide and go seek or maybe tag. Either that or she was being tested. She really hated the second idea.

She had never done that great on tests.

But lets look on the bright side:

At least it wasn't Geometry!

Hell she could fight demons, save princesses and rescue water goddesses any day, but give her a Geometry test and she would rather jump head first off the nearest bridge, or mountain, whichever was closest.

Anyways, she had been on this ill-fated goose chase for what felt like hours and she was no closer to the constantly moving energy source. She was pissed off and she was tired, and a ill and tired Kagome was not a pretty sight. She could no longer ignore the steady drain on her energy and she knew that her supply would not last much longer and her time was running out. The spirit scan had not worked properly. Instead of taking her quickly through Hiei's memories it had instead fully submerged her into his mind and him into hers. It seemed to have taken her to a almost physical manifestation of the place that had the most impact on his life.

She shuddered to think just were in her mind he was and what exactly it was that he was seeing.

She was pissed at herself for not being able to use her own technique correctly. Was she really so horrilbe, so pathetic, that she could not even use a ability she herself had created and perfected (or so she had thought) in the right manner? Maybe it had been the two auras that were seperate and yet attached to Hiei's own aura that had thrown the spirit scan off. She had noticed the two immediately but had failed to take into account the effect they could have on her technique.

Mostly though she was just tired, deathly tired. It was taking a lot out of her to maintain the link for so long and the strain on her energy was taking its toil on her more and more every minute. Before when she had preformed the spirit scan the energy required had not amounted to even a quarter of the energy that she was producing now just to remain in contact with Hiei. Kagome suspected once again that it had to do with Hiei's youkai and the two accompaning auras that were intertwined with his own. She cursed herself again for making the mistake.

The first aura had an animalistic feel to it and seemed to be drawing on her energy, trying to use her as a new power source or possibly an outlet. The other aura had an other worldly feel to it that tended to remind her of the old psychic that had trained her, except that there was a demonic energy hovering around it as well. This thing was trying to set up permanit ties to her mind, her energy, and what remained of her pathetic soul. The extra pull of the first aura was adding to the strain on her energy and she was quickly becoming too weak to resist them.

It was taking an absurd amount of energy to:

1.) Keep the connection between herself and Hiei open.

2.) Give herself and Hiei the corpreal forms that this required.

3.) Fight off the energies that were alternatly trying to feed/connect from/with her.

4.) To keep herself from becoming lost in the dreamscape that she seemed to be currently trapped in.

She knew that she had to get her answers soon or take the risk of never geting them or possibly having to repeat this all over again. Then as if in answer to all of her silent prayers the two energies stopped and remained in place. If she had been able to accurately measure the distance between them she would have to say that they were prehaps two to three miles to her right just beyond the sloe of that hill and in the trees that she could just barely see.

If she used her powers and pushed herself she could reach them in possibly ten minutes give or take a minute or two. Her training would certainly come in handy here but she was in danger of pushing herself too far and that could lead to her death if she wasn't careful. She had to be catious with how she went forward, she could not afford to die now without avenging her family and making arrangements for Shippou. She would be damned before she left her kit in the world with noone to care for him. Praying that this would not get her killed she set off in hopes of reaching the auras and her answers before her time ran out.

TEN MINUTES LATER

There, just ahead of her she could feel them. They were stationary and the power they produced was almost enough to take her breath away. They were so strong and yet she could not figure out what it was exactly about them that bothered her besides the obvious.

Putting on one final burst of speed Kagome roundedthe corner and skidded to a halt at what she saw. There in front of her was a floating glowing ball of lavender light, and a small blackish purple...geko!

"Hm, he is not a geko."

The voice came out of nowhere and possessed no real tone, just floating into and out of her range of hearing and yet she got the distinct impression that the voice was male.

"Hm, prehaps I am, I would like to think of myself as a male, though I am not really sure."

Kagome unable to think of a response found herself for once speechless so she asked the obvious questions.

"Where are you? What are you doing here? Hell what are you in general?"

"I am what you would call the Jagan, an all seeing eye for the spirit I believe."

It was at this time that Kagome noticed the lavender ball of light seemed to pulsate in time with each word that was spoken by the mysterious voice. "So _you_ are this so called Jagan eye."

"Yes, I am. Now my reluctant companion over here, who is unquestionably male, is known formally as The Dragon of the Darkness Flame. Quite the temper that one has, so be careful not to upset him."

"So I take it you are the one that has been trying to connect with me and he the one that has been attempting to feed from my energy since I arrived." Kagome more stated than questioned.

"You are really quite bright aren't you my little miko? Yes those auras that you have been feeling have indeed been our own. We were intrigued as to who would dare venture into the mind of our master. Not many would even consider touching him not to mention almost completely melding parts of their mind with his own after knowing exactly what he is."

"First off I am not your anything and secondly my name is Kagome not miko, thirdly I could care less what your master is, all I want is the answers that I came here for. And finally I would stop my attempts to connect or feed from me if I were you, or I will not be responsible for my actions."

"Then I suppose it is a good thing indeed that you are neither of us, wouldn't you say? You are fooling noone Ka-Go-Me all three of us know that you are too weak to purify a fly at this point in time, let alone take on two such as ourselves. We both desire a connection to you and we will not be stopped my little miko, not by you and certainly not by our master. He is further occupied at the moment and he will be none the wiser until it is too late for all of us."

At hearing their intended claim Kagome tried to withdraw wholely from the Jagan and the Dragon and completely from Hiei's mind. Immediately upon noticing her attempted withdraw the little 'geko', that Kagome had once fleetingly thought cute, shot forward towards her growing in size as he went. By the time he reached her he had grown to over ten feet long and over one foot wide. His eyes were red and his scales were a blackish purple that seemed to flicker with a darker flame. Jerking forward he wrapped his coils around Kagome's body, his head resting on her shoulder, his nose in her neck, he squeezed her gently not wanting to frighten her just warn against future escape attempts. He was reminescent more of the large python that Tsubaki had once carried than of a dragon of any kind.

Then without any warning his tounge flickered out of his mouth and ran gently yet firmly across her jugular caressing her pulse point and trailed upwards to her ear where he gently nipped the lobe and growled softly, as if to tell her how much her taste pleased him. Kagome could not supress her shivers at the Dragon's actions.

The Jagan chuckled at the actions of both of his compainions, "He says that you taste absoulutely divine, and that he cannot wait to taste your blood. He believes that it will taste like the sweetest nectar."

Kagome thrashed back and forth in the clutches of the amorous dragon, trying in vain to escape his coils that retained a oh-so possessive hold on her form. "Get you filthy coils off of me, you deranged geko!" She was starting to become slightly desperate, her resolve and her resistance were fading at a rapid pace she knew that she did not have much left in her. She was running on fumes.

If she did not leave now there was a good chance that she would not leave at all or that when she did she would be leaving with even less of herself than she had entered with. But she could not, would not leave until she had her answers. If Hiei had killed her family, killed Souta he would die today and there was noone that would stop her.

"I had a purpose in my journey here. I want to know if your so called master was the one behind the deaths of my family. I want to know if he killed my Souta. Did he kill my brother! Did he? Answer me! I swear to you that if you do not I will muster everything that I have left in me and I will purify you all even if it kills me in the process."

The Jagan was worried. Here he and the Dragon had finally after all of their years of existance found a being that held both of their intrests and they did not even desire her death, as was usually the case, and she had a death wish. Hell even that messed up son of a bitch that they willingly called master was interested in her, not that he would ever admit it. He knew that if he ever wanted even the slightest chance of making the girl his he would have to disabuse her of the notion that it had been any of them that had killed her kin.

"We three have not killed a human that we have not been ordered to dispose of in a good five years. We have had no desire to end up in a Reikai prison cell or possiblely have our sentence to Koenma raised any hgher than it already is."

"How can I believe you? Do you honestly think that I will just take your word for it and forget that it ever happened?"

"I do not lie, I am unable to do so, nor would I even if I was able, lieing is the cowards way out and that is beneath all three of us. I can assure you that neither of us have ever killed a human with a energy signal even close to yours. You can rest assured my miko that had we done so we would have found you long ago and you would not have had a chance in hell of escape, not that you do now mind you. You can rest assured that the killer was not us."

At hearing this Kagome had no choice but to believe the creature. She could sense no lies or falsehoods and it would take an extreme amount of energy to decive her while in this state. While she was fully aware that the creatures possessed more than enough energy to decive her she would have at least felt the starting ripple of power as it flowed throughout their beings. And yet at hearing this what little control Kagome had had left shattered and was scattered to the four corners of the universe. After all of this time of thinking that she had Souta's killer on her radar and plotting his death with the little information she had been able to pry from Koenma, only to find out that she had the wrong youkai.

She truely was worthless.

She couldn't even do revenge right.

She was breaking more and more each day. She was slowly drifting farther and farther apart piece by piece, sinking faster and faster and she could barely find the strength to continue to fight against the current of her own soul. Shippou was the only thing that kept her grounded, and even then the thoughts that maybe the kit would be better off without her circled through her traitorous mind.

Wrapped around and snuggled as closely to her 'body' as he was the Dragon felt the exact momment when her control wavered and without hesitation both he and the Jagan launched themselves forward and forcefully connected with her. They literally ripped the strands of her energy from her hands and out of her control, giving them the ability to manipulate it to their ends. Taking control of the strings the Jagan wrapped many of them around the body of the Dragon and many around himself. The eye was a master at energy manipulation, after all that was were he gained all of his own powers from. He knew that in the real world the Dragon and himself might develop some diffrences in their normal physical states, and yet it would be worth it for the permanent tie that they would soon have with the little miko.

As the connection was finally installed the Jagan and the Dragon were nearly overwhelmed by the shear blankness of what they found. It reminded the Jagan of the first impression that Hiei had when seeing her eyes for the first time. She was blank now in a way that her eyes had never shown, this went too deep to be seen on the surface. It was as if..as if she had simply shut down, flicked a switch and turned off the light. They weren't even sure if she was there anymore. They could actually feel her slipping away slowly and they hated the feeling of being unable to reach her.

The Jagan tried to get her attention a little desprately, "Kagome!"

She didn't even flinch when he practically screamed her name. The Dragon tried to get her attention in his own way, purring and growling in her ear while nipping at the lobe, and still there was no response.

The Jagan was worried, the Dragon on the other hand was pissed. The onna he wanted, his mate-to-be, the only one he had ever found after all his years of existence first in the Makai and then as a companion to Hiei that had ever had the potential to appease his hunger, was slipping away from him and he refused to let her go where he could not follow. Even from here he could feel her spirit fading in and out of existance as if she was ready to let go and yet there was something holding her back.

He could not, would not allow her to die and leave him alone again to face the coming decades by himself. He would not allow her to leave Hiei or the Jagan alone any longer, not just himself. Drawing the conclusion that he would have the onna as his one day very soon the Dragon carefully weighed his options. He could let her go now and allow her to withdraw from Hiei and hope that she would live on her own, but he would be running the risk of losing her so this was not an option. Or he could mark her. Not the mating mark, but the courting mark of his kind.

Being that they had no human form he and his kind were unable to officially mate with any species outside of their own unless they had a humanoid host. Since coming to be with Hiei almost five years ago the Dragon had been on the look out for a mate of his own, someone to fill the void inside of all three of them. Having Hiei as his host had its advantages and its disavantages. First there was the fact that most females and many males found Hiei and his dark brooding looks to be quite attractive, but while they found him attractive none would go near him with the intention of mating after learning of his origins, and he had never found a ningen female that captured his intrest until now. This one however was diffrent. All four components that were necessary for Hiei to take a mate had finally agreed upon one single being.

The Dragon, the Jagan, Hiei's inner youkai, and even Hiei, on some level, had agreed that they all wanted this onna for their own. The other three parts knew that Hiei would never admit that he desired the onna for various reasons, but he had failed to realize that his actions at the ningen shrine had revealed his intrest for him. Never had anyone seen Hiei act so strangely towards anybody besides his sister Yukina. Although he had practically had Kagome pinned to a wall at the time his entire body had spoken, unknown to the two parties currently engrossed with each other, of possessiveness and protective instincts that the hybrid had thought long dead. Yes even Hiei subconciously wanted the girl and the other three parts of his being agreed that they would have her regardless if he wanted to admit it or not.

Now the courting mark of the Dragon was not permanent unless the onna herself agreed to their claim and the likelyhood of that happening at this time was highly unlikely. But it did have its use in this occassion. The courting mark was designed to protect its bearer using the youki of the demon or the energy of the being that bestowed it. This mark would allow the onna access to his youki and the ability to draw from his own resources. This should provide her with more than enough power to remain grounded and stable until they had time to investigate what had made their onna so very broken.

Making a snap decision he chose. He would mark the onna. This would show all others that she was worthy of the Dragon and that she belonged to him as well, while at the same time allowing her the time to chose wiether she wanted to stay with them or leave, not that the second choice was really an option.

Rearing back he prepared to deliever the bite that would tie her to him when he realized something. They were still in the dreamscape that had been created. They were not currently in the physical world thus any courtship mark delivered here would not stay. While she could very well purify them from here it was because her powers reached for the soul of a youkai killing them at the very root of their existance. Only energy changes would take affect here thus the success of the Jagan and his energy manipulation. While the courtship mark was mainly energy it still required the physical mark to activate it. Being in the dreamscape meant that none of them had a real physical body here. While he could feel her curves against his coils it was a cold feeling, like embracing clay. Her body held none of the warmth that she had given off at the shrine. When he had tasted her skin earlier he had really been tasting her energy not her actual flesh he realized. He would remedy that soon enough.

He would be required to wait until the onna had withdrawn from Hiei and the apparition had begun to awake before taking control of his body and applying the mark. He would have to be quick otherwise they really could lose her.

Sending his thoughts to the Jagan the Dragon waited for the agreement that he knew would come. The Jagan wanted to be connected to the onna in every way possible, her mind, her body, even her soul. He found her a puzzle and his desire to solve it rivaled the kitsune at his worst. The eye wanted desperatly to dive into her mind and never leave, to bask in her energy and feed from the depths of her being. He would get his wish come Hell or high water.

The Jagan and the Dragon both could feel the emotions gripping Hiei while neither could see or directly feel the events that were taking place where ever the Koorime happened to be located at. It was highly likely that as soon as Hiei awoke they could be bombarded with visions, memories, and emotions from whatever it was that had happened and it could throw them off slightly if they were not quick about it. They would strike as soon as they felt Hiei regain even the slightest bit of awareness, so as not to get distracted.

They would each mark her in their own way and if they had their way about it they would never be seperated agian. With these thoughts they retracted their energies from binding Kagome to them and holding her in place, instead they simpley brushed their auras against her own in a sensual manner attempting to calm her. Knowing that they would see her soon they allowed her to slip away from them slowly each reluctant to let her go. Then with one last brush of their auras she was gone.

BACK AT THE HIGURASHI SHRINE KAGOME'S BEDROOM

Hiei began to awaken slower and more groggy than he ever had in the past on the few ocassions that he had allowed himself to hibrenate. Something was wrong, very wrong with him. he usually snap into consciousness immediately without the inbetween state that most ningen experienced, but this was diffrent. He felt as if something was draining energy from his body in preperation of something big.

Then he felt them. The Jagan was open and currently burning through the bandana that covered his forehead, and the Dragon ws thrashing on his arm in an attempt to escape its confines. Niether had his premission to do anything, not to mention try and get free. The Dragon was uncoiling itself from his arm now as the pain of the detachment swept through him. As if sensing his discomfort a thin thread of energy crept up from the sleeping form of the miko currently held in his arms (though he truely had no idea how she had gotten there) and reached out to soothe the beast and assisted it in detaching itself without causing Hiei anymore pain. The onna was insaine, she had just signed her own death warrent.

Hiei watched as the Dragon finished its detachment and proceeded to slink across his chest until it was laying flat across her chest in its smaller form. Hiei did not want to see the onna die simply because he had no desire to upgrade his sentence to the Rekai brat any higher than it already was. He tried to call it back but all it did was ignore his prone form and continue along his business. The Jagan was restraining his movements and would not allow him to move. All Hiei could do was lay there and watch as the Dragon demolished the onna.

Or so he thought.

Hiei watched the onna and his Dragon as the beast studied the lines of exhaustion that Hiei himself had just now noticed located on her face. His conversation with Midoriko came back to him. This girl really was broken. The Dragon sat there for a moment before leaning up and gently nuzzling the lines around her eyes and woofing softly in her ear. Hiei was confused; why was his Dragon being so damn gentle with the onna?

And even as he watched the situation became weirder. The Dragon once again lowered himself until his muzzle rested on her breast and tilting his head he appeared to be listening to her heartbeat with his eyes closed. As if sensing his regard the Dragon snapped open his eyes and gave Hiei his equivelent of a smirk. Leaning forward the Dragon inhaled the onnas sent and seemed to pause in rapture. His tounge flickered into view again and this time the Dragon ran it upwards from her pulse point all the way up to her ear where he gave the lobe a soft nip. Then suddenly he reared back and his jaws gaped wide in preperation to deliver the death blow to the sleeping miko. Growling slowly the beast jerked forward and Hiei knew that his life was over. He would forever be indebted to that fucking pacifier sucking, diaper wearing, stupid son of a bitch.

But then at the very same time the Jagan released a massive blast of energy aimed directly for the spot on her neck that the Dragon would soon latch his fangs. The resulting flash of light and the explosion that followed was powerful enough and filled with a big enough mixture of youkai energy and miko ki that it sent Hiei flying across the room to land on his ass, hurting him enough to make him pass out again.

His last rational thought before the darkness overtook him was, 'when had the dragon grown those pink scales?'


End file.
